Sonnet 52
What dost thou meane to Cheate me of my Heart,To take all Mine, and giue me none againe?Or haue thine Eyes such Magike, or that Art,That what They get, They euer doe retaine?Play not the Tyrant, but take some Remorse,Rebate thy Spleene, if but for Pitties sake;Or Cruell, if thou can'st not; let vs scorse,And for one Piece of Thine, my whole heart take.But what of Pitty doe I speake to Thee,Whose Brest is proofe against Complaint or Prayer?Or can I thinke what my Reward shall beFrom that proud Beauty, which was my betrayer?What talke I of a Heart, when thou hast none?Or if thou hast, it is a flinty one.
Words in this poem
- rebate v. i.
- To abate; to withdraw. Foxe.
- cruell a.
- Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
- scorse n.
- Barter; exchange; trade. [Cf. It. scorsa a course, and E. discourse.]
- 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,]
- betrayer n.
- One who, or that which, betrays.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 52 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 52, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-52.html, id L20635.
Form and metre
Sonnet 52 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 81%).
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 heartA · againeB · artA · retaineB · remorseC · sakeD · scorseC · takeD · theeE · prayerF · beE · betrayerF · noneG · oneG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What dost thou meane to Cheate me of my Heart, | 10 | ·········· |
| To take all Mine, and giue me none againe? | 10 | ·········· |
| Or haue thine Eyes such Magike, or that Art, | 10 | ·········· |
| That what They get, They euer doe retaine? | 9 | ········· |
| Play not the Tyrant, but take some Remorse, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Rebate thy Spleene, if but for Pitties sake; | 9 | /········ |
| Or Cruell, if thou can'st not; let vs scorse, | 11 | ·/˘·····//· |
| And for one Piece of Thine, my whole heart take. | 10 | ·········· |
| But what of Pitty doe I speake to Thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whose Brest is proofe against Complaint or Prayer? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Or can I thinke what my Reward shall be | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| From that proud Beauty, which was my betrayer? | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| What talke I of a Heart, when thou hast none? | 10 | ·········· |
| Or if thou hast, it is a flinty one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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.