| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 47. In pride of Wit, when high desire of fame | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1605 (No. 47), and in all later editions.] |
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IN pride of Wit, when high desire of fame | |
| Gave life and courage to my lab’ring pen, | |
| And first the sound and virtue of my name | |
| Won grace and credit in the ears of men; | |
| With those, the thronged Theatres that press, | 5 |
| I in the Circuit for the laurel strove! | |
| Where the full praise, I freely must confess, | |
| In heat of blood, a modest mind might move. | |
| With shouts and claps at every little pause, | |
| When the proud Round on every side hath rung; | 10 |
| Sadly I sit, unmoved with the applause, | |
| As though to me it nothing did belong. | |
| No public glory vainly I pursue: | |
| All that I seek is to eternize you! | | | |
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