Drayton’s speaker addresses his beloved as a living miracle, daring cynical friends who doubt the power of love. He insists that her influence has literally restored him: a muse once unable to speak now finds words, a lame hand learns to write—simply by naming her or touching upon her. His blindness and deafness are cured through seeing her eyes and hearing her fame; his vices dissolve, replaced by her virtues, and hopes long dead rise again. The poem feels like a fervent prayer or testimony, mixing Renaissance love with the language of gospel miracles. The beloved becomes a Christ-like healer who casts out unclean thoughts like demons. The mood is earnest, almost ecstatic—a believer’s insistence that the transformation is real, not flattery. Throughout, the speaker’s voice is tenderly defiant, as though he’s testifying to a skeptical congregation.
Sonnet XXXV: Some, Misbelieving — Summary
To Miracle
Some, misbelieving and profane in love, When I do speak of miracles by thee, May say, that thou art flattered by me, Who only write my skill in verse to prove. See miracles, ye unbelieving, see A dumb-born Muse made t'express the mind, A cripple hand to write, yet lame by kind, One by thy name, the other touching thee; Blind were mine eyes, till they were seen of thine, And mine ears deaf by thy fame healed be, My vices cur'd by virtues sprung from thee, My hopes reviv'd, which long in grave had lien, All unclean thoughts, foul spirits, cast out in me Only by virtue that proceeds from thee.