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Sonnets: Idea XXI

By Michael Drayton

Topics: classic

A witless gallant a young wench that wooed--     Yet his dull spirit her not one jot could move--     Intreated me as e'er I wished his good,     To write him but one sonnet to his love.         When I as fast as e'er my pen could trot,     Poured out what first from quick invention came,     Nor never stood one word thereof to blot;     Much like his wit that was to use the same.         But with my verses he his mistress won,     Who doated on the dolt beyond all measure.     But see, for you to heaven for phrase I run,     And ransack all Apollo's golden treasure!         Yet by my troth, this fool his love obtains,         And I lose you for all my wit and pains!

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"A witless gallant a young wench that wooed--..."

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Author:Michael Drayton

"A witless gallant a young wench that wooed--..." 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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