Analysis of Sonnet I: Like an Advent'rous Seafarer

Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)



Like an advent'rous seafarer am I,
Who hath some long and dang'rous voyage been,
And, call'd to tell of his discovery,
How far he sail'd, what countries he had seen;
Proceeding from the port whence he put forth,
Shows by his compass how his course he steer'd,
When East, when West, when South, and when by North,
As how the Pole to every place was rear'd,
What capes he doubled, of what Continent,
The gulfs and straits that strangely he had past,
Where most becalm'd, where with foul weather spent,
And on what rocks in peril to be cast:
Thus in my love, Time calls me to relate
My tedious travels and oft-varying fate.


Scheme ABCDEFEFGHIHJJ
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011 111101101 0111110100 1111110111 0101011111 1111011111 1111110111 11011100111 1111011100 0101110111 1101111101 0111010111 1011111101 110010011001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 628
Words 116
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 478
Words per stanza (avg) 114
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
119

Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. more…

All Michael Drayton poems | Michael Drayton Books

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