Sonnet XIII: Letters and Lines
Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)
To the Shadow
Letters and lines we see are soon defac'd,
Metals do waste and fret with canker's rust,
The diamond shall once consume to dust,
And freshest colors with foul stains disgrac'd;
Paper and ink can paint but naked words,
To write with blood of force offends the sight;
And if with tears I find them all too light,
And sighs and signs a silly hope affotds,
O sweetest shadow, how thou serv'st my turn,
Which still shalt be, as long as there is sun,
Nor, whilst the world is, never shalt be done,
Whilst moon shall shine or any fire shall burn;
That everything whence shadow doth proceed
May in my shadow my love's story read.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 42 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | X ABBACDDCEFFEXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 641 |
Words | 120 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 14 |
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"Sonnet XIII: Letters and Lines" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/28135/sonnet-xiii:-letters-and-lines>.
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