The Devonshire Manuscript, Now may I morne as one off late

|

The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 26r (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
| --- |
|

The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 25v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
| |

f. [25v]
f. [26r]

1    Now may I morne as one off late
2    Dryuen by force from y my delyte
3    and can not se my louely mate
4    th to whom for ever my hart ys plyte

5    Alas that euer pryson stronge
6    sholde such too louers seperate
7    yet thowgh ower bodys suffereth wronge
8    ower harts shalbe off one estate

9    I wyll not swerue I yow Insure
10    for gold nor yet for worldly fere
11    but lyke as yerne I wyll Indure
12    suche faythful loue to yow I bere

13    Thus fare ye well to me most dere
14    off all the world both most and lest
15    I pray yow be off ryght good chere
16    and thynke on me that louys yow best

17    and I wyll promyse yow agayne
18    to thynke off yow I wyll not lett1
19    for nothyng cowld relesse my payne
20    but to thynke on yow my louer swete

finis

Notes & Glosses

1. This use of "let" is similar to that in Henry VIII's "Pastyme with good company."

Commentary

Attributed to Lord Thomas Howard,1] the poem was entered by [TH2. Typical of courtly love literature, the speaker emphasizes the pain that occurs when lovers are separated from each other.

Works Cited

• ↑ William A. Ringler, Jr., Michael Rudick, and Susan J. Rigler, Bibliography and Index of English Verse in Manuscript, 1501-1558 (London: Manswell, 1992), 167.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Wikibooks. From “The Devonshire Manuscript” on Wikibooks, by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed here: set as a page; navigation and edit links left out; each image under its own licence, credited in its caption.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.