Sonnet XI
Strange icy throes the arms of Daphne bind,Which shoot, and spread, and lengthen into boughs;And into green leaves metamorphosed showsThe head whose locks, wooed by the summer wind,Made the fine gold seem dim; the rigorous rindClothes the soft members that still pant; her feet,Snowy as swift, in earth fast rooted meet,By thousand tortuous fibres intertwined.The author of an injury so great,With virtue of his tears this laurel fed,Which flourished thus, perpetual greenness keeping;Oh fatal growth! oh miserable estate!That from his weeping each fresh day should spreadThe very cause and reason of his weeping.
Words in this poem
- daphne n.
- A genus of diminutive Shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms. [L., a laurel tree, from Gr. .]
- pant v. i.
- To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega, Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, the J. H. Wiffen translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Garcilaso de la Vega, Sonnet XI, in The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega (1823), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/garcilaso-works/sonnet-xi.html, id L18714.
Form and metre
Sonnet XI is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A--AABBACDECDE bindA · boughs · shows · windA · rindA · feetB · meetB · intertwinedA · greatC · fedD · keepingE · estateC · spreadD · weepingE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Strange icy throes the arms of Daphne bind, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Which shoot, and spread, and lengthen into boughs; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And into green leaves metamorphosed shows | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The head whose locks, wooed by the summer wind, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Made the fine gold seem dim; the rigorous rind | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Clothes the soft members that still pant; her feet, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Snowy as swift, in earth fast rooted meet, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| By thousand tortuous fibres intertwined. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| The author of an injury so great, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| With virtue of his tears this laurel fed, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Which flourished thus, perpetual greenness keeping; | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Oh fatal growth! oh miserable estate! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| That from his weeping each fresh day should spread | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The very cause and reason of his weeping. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.