This a sweet sonnet, by Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey who lost his head at the age of thirty, at the behest of the king, Henry VIII. This is such a sweet sonnet but it has several words which are completely foreign to us now; I think we may be able to guess them from the context, and some, such as turtle are easily understood as turtle-dove and the word brake are still used in particular senses. Ming, though has an unfortunate modern meaning, very different from what Henry Howard intended!
- soote, sweet;
- eke, also;
- turtle, turtledove;
- make, mate;
- brake, thicket;
- flete, float;
- mings, mingles or remember
The Soote Season
The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale;
The nightingale with feathers new she sings;
The turtle to her make hath told her tale.
Summer is come, for every spray now springs,
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale;
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings;
The fishes flete with new repaired scale;
The adder all her slough away she slings;
The swift swallow pursueth the flyes smale;
The busy bee her honey now she mings,
Winter is worn that was the flowers’ bale.
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.
Lois Elsden 