Idea VI
Idea VI
Original Text
Michael Drayton, Poems (W. Stansby for J. Swethwicke, 1619). STC 7222. Facs. edn.: Scolar Press, 1969. PR 2255 A1 1619A.
1How many paltry, foolish, painted things,
2That now in coaches trouble every street,
3Shall be forgotten, whom no poet sings,
4Ere they be well wrapp'd in their winding-sheet?
5Where I to thee eternity shall give,
6When nothing else remaineth of these days,
7And queens hereafter shall be glad to live
8Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
9Virgins and matrons reading these my rhymes
10Shall be so much delighted with thy story,
11That they shall grieve they liv'd not in these times
12To have seen thee, their sex's only glory.
13So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,
14Still to survive in my immortal song.
Publication Start Year
1619
RPO poem Editors
F. D. Hoeniger
RPO Edition
3RP 1.130.
Rhyme
Form