How was the word 'poetry' pronounced in England in 1572-1637?

I had a professor from Ohio State who specialized in old English literature come and read an English poem to us from exactly that time period, in the pronounciation of that time period. 1602, in fact. And he pronounced poetry as “poe-it-try”, with a bit of garnish on the r. So yes, “lie” and “poetry” would rhyme perfectly.

Kipling also rhymed “hand or eye” and “fearful symmetry,” so it’s either a common liberty poets take, or they used to pronounce it differently.

I 2nd lefteh. I also had a nun in HS who read to us in O.E. You described the “r” sound very cleverly lefteh.