To Lucie Countesse of Bedford
Great Lady, essence of my chiefest good,Of the most pure and finest tempred spirit,Adorn'd with gifts, enobled by thy blood,Which by discent true vertue do'st inherit:That vertue which no fortune can depriue,Which thou by birth tak'st from thy gracious mother,Whose royall minds with equall motion striue,Which most in honour shall excell the other;Vnto thy fame my Muse herself shall taske,Which rain'st vpon me thy sweet golden showers,And but thy selfe, no subject will I aske,Vpon whose praise my soule shall spend her powers.Sweet Lady yet, grace this poore Muse of mine,Whose faith, whose zeale, whose life, whose all is thine.
Words in this poem
- chiefest a.
- First or foremost; chief; principal. [Superl. of Chief.]
- royall a.
- Kingly; pertaining to the crown or the sovereign; suitable for a king or queen; regal; as, royal power or prerogative; royal domains; the royal family; royal state. [OE. roial, riall, real, OF. roial. reial, F. royal, fr. L. regalis, fr. rex, regis, king. See Rich, and cf. regal, real a coin, Rial.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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,]
- excell v. t.
- To go beyond or surpass in good qualities or laudable deeds; to outdo or outgo, in a good sense. [L. excellere, excelsum; ex out + a root found in culmen height, top; cf. F. exceller. See Culminate, Column.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Lucie Countesse of Bedford 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, To Lucie Countesse of Bedford, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/to-lucie-countesse-of-bedford.html, id L02727.
Form and metre
To Lucie Countesse of Bedford is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 A-A-BCBCDEDEFF goodA · spirit · bloodA · inherit · depriueB · motherC · striueB · otherC · taskeD · showersE · askeD · powersE · mineF · thineF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Great Lady, essence of my chiefest good, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of the most pure and finest tempred spirit, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Adorn'd with gifts, enobled by thy blood, | 10 | ˘/····˘··· |
| Which by discent true vertue do'st inherit: | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| That vertue which no fortune can depriue, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Which thou by birth tak'st from thy gracious mother, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Whose royall minds with equall motion striue, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Which most in honour shall excell the other; | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Vnto thy fame my Muse herself shall taske, | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Which rain'st vpon me thy sweet golden showers, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| And but thy selfe, no subject will I aske, | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Vpon whose praise my soule shall spend her powers. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Sweet Lady yet, grace this poore Muse of mine, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Whose faith, whose zeale, whose life, whose all is thine. | 11 | ··········· |
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