Analysis of Sonnet XLVI: Plain-Path'd Experience

Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)



Plain-path'd Experience, th'unlearned's guide,
Her simple followers evidently shows
Sometimes what Schoolmen scarcely can decide,
Nor yet wise Reason absolutely knows.
In making trial of a murther wrought,
If the vile actors of the heinous deed
Near the dead body happily be brought,
Oft it hath been prov'd the breathless corse will bleed.
She's coming near, that my poor heart hath slain,
Long since departed, to the world no more,
The ancient wounds no longer can contain,
But fall to bleeding as they did before.
But what of this? Should she to death be led,
It furthers justice, but helps not the dead.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 11010011 01010010001 01111011 111100101 010101011 1011010101 1011010011 11111010111 1101111111 1101010111 0101110101 1111011101 1111111111 1101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 614
Words 105
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 482
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
106

Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. more…

All Michael Drayton poems | Michael Drayton Books

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    D Sylvia Plath