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Amour 21

By Michael Drayton

Topics: classic

Letters and lynes, we see, are soone defaced,     Mettles doe waste and fret with cankers rust;     The Diamond shall once consume to dust,     And freshest colours with foule staines disgraced.     Paper and yncke can paynt but naked words,     To write with blood of force offends the sight,     And if with teares, I find them all too light;     And sighes and signes a silly hope affoords.     O, sweetest shadow! how thou seru'st my turne,     Which still shalt be as long as there is Sunne,     Nor whilst the world is neuer shall be done,     Whilst Moone shall shyne by night, or any fire shall burne:         That euery thing whence shadow doth proceede,         May in his shadow my Loues story reade.

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"Letters and lynes, we see, are soone defaced,..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Michael Drayton delivers a powerful performance in "Amour 21"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Michael Drayton

"Letters and lynes, we see, are soone defaced,..." by Michael Drayton

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Michael Drayton

About Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton (1563–1631) was an English poet whose "Poly-Olbion" (1612–1622) is a vast topographical poem describing the landscape and legends of England and Wales. His sonnet "Since there's no help" is among the finest of the Elizabethan era.

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"DORILVS in sorrowes deepe,         Autumne waxing ..."

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