Sonnet XVII: Why Should I Sing in Verse

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



Why should I sing in verse, why should I frame
These sad neglected notes for her dear sake?
Why should I offer up onto her name
The sweetest sacrifice my youth can make?
Why should I strive to make her live for ever,
That never deigns to give me joy to live?
Why should m'afflicted Muse so much endeavor,
Such honor unto cruelty to give?
If her defects have purchas'd her this fame,
What should her virtues do, her smiles, her love?
If this her worst, how should her best enflame?
What passions would her milder favors move?
Favors (I think) would sense quite overcome,
And that makes happy Lovers ever dumb.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
55

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCEAFAGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 114
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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