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Sonnets: Idea V

By Michael Drayton

Topics: classic

Nothing but "No!" and "I!"[A] and "I!" and "No!"     "How falls it out so strangely?" you reply.     I tell ye, Fair, I'll not be answered so,     With this affirming "No!" denying "I!"     I say "I love!" You slightly answer "I!"     I say "You love!" You pule me out a "No!"     I say "I die!" You echo me with "I!"     "Save me!" I cry; you sigh me out a "No!"     Must woe and I have naught but "No!" and "I!"?     No "I!" am I, if I no more can have.     Answer no more; with silence make reply,     And let me take myself what I do crave;         Let "No!" and "I!" with I and you be so,         Then answer "No!" and "I!" and "I!" and "No!"

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"Nothing but "No!" and "I!"[A] and "I!" and "No!"..."

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Author:Michael Drayton

"Nothing but "No!" and "I!"[A] and "I!" and "No!"..." 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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