Sonnet 51
Calling to minde since first my loue begunne,Th' incertaine times oft varying in their course,How things still vnexpectedly haue runne,As please the fates, by their resistlesse force:Lastly, mine eyes amazedly haue scene,Essex great fall, Tyrone his peace to gaine,The quiet end of that long-liuing Queene,This Kings faire entrance, and our peace with Spaine,We and the Dutch at length our selues to seuer.Thus the world doth, and euermore shall reele,Yet to my goddesse am I constant euer;How ere blind fortune turne her giddy wheele:Though heauen and earth proue both to mee vntrue,Yet am I still inuiolate to you.
Words in this poem
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- amazedly adv.
- In amazement; with confusion or astonishment.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 51 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, Project Gutenberg ebook #17873; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michael Drayton, Sonnet 51, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-51.html, id L20623.
Form and metre
Sonnet 51 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG begunneA · courseB · runneA · forceB · sceneC · gaineD · queeneC · spaineD · seuerE · reeleF · euerE · wheeleF · vntrueG · youG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Calling to minde since first my loue begunne, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Th' incertaine times oft varying in their course, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| How things still vnexpectedly haue runne, | 9 | ········· |
| As please the fates, by their resistlesse force: | 10 | ·········· |
| Lastly, mine eyes amazedly haue scene, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| Essex great fall, Tyrone his peace to gaine, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| The quiet end of that long-liuing Queene, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| This Kings faire entrance, and our peace with Spaine, | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| We and the Dutch at length our selues to seuer. | 10 | ······/··· |
| Thus the world doth, and euermore shall reele, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet to my goddesse am I constant euer; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How ere blind fortune turne her giddy wheele: | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Though heauen and earth proue both to mee vntrue, | 9 | ········· |
| Yet am I still inuiolate to you. | 9 | ········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.