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Sonnets: Idea XVII To Time

By Michael Drayton

Topics: classic

Stay, speedy time! Behold, before thou pass         From age to age, what thou hast sought to see,         One in whom all the excellencies be,     In whom heaven looks itself as in a glass.     Time, look thou too in this translucent glass,         And thy youth past in this pure mirror see!         As the world's beauty in his infancy,     What it was then, and thou before it was.     Pass on and to posterity tell this--         Yet see thou tell but truly what hath been.         Say to our nephews that thou once hast seen     In perfect human shape all heavenly bliss;         And bid them mourn, nay more, despair with thee,         That she is gone, her like again to see.

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"Stay, speedy time! Behold, before thou pass..."

"Sonnets: Idea XVII To Time" is a quintessential example of Michael Drayton's signature style... ### 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

"Stay, speedy time! Behold, before thou pass..." 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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