Sonnet I
From fairest creatures we desire increase,That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,But as the riper should by time decease,His tender heir might bear his memory:But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,Making a famine where abundance lies,Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament,And only herald to the gaudy spring,Within thine own bud buriest thy content,And tender churl mak’st waste in niggarding:Pity the world, or else this glutton be,To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.
Words in this poem
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet I, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-1.html, id L00019.
Form and metre
Sonnet I is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG increaseA · dieB · deceaseA · memoryB · eyesC · fuelD · liesC · cruelD · ornamentE · springF · contentE · niggardingF · beG · theeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From fairest creatures we desire increase, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| That thereby beauty’s rose might never die, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But as the riper should by time decease, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| His tender heir might bear his memory: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel, | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| Making a famine where abundance lies, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel: | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And only herald to the gaudy spring, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Within thine own bud buriest thy content, | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| And tender churl mak’st waste in niggarding: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Pity the world, or else this glutton be, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee. | 10 | ·········· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 6
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 2 Rose. In the quarto the word is printed in italics and with a capital. See on 20. 7 below.
- Line 5 Contracted. Betrothed ; as often in the plays. Cf. T. AT. v. 1. 268, M.for M. v. 1. 330, etc. Tyler explains it as meaning, " Not having given extension to thyself by offspring."
- Line 6 Self-substantial fuel. " Fuel of the substance of the flame itself" (Dowden). "You feed your sight on the sight of your- self" (Wyndham).
- Line 7 Where abundance lies. "That is, potentially " (Tyler).
- Line 10 Gaudy. Gay and showy ; with no disparaging sense. Cf. L. /,. L. v. 2. 812 : "Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love."
- Line 13 Pity the world, etc. " Pity the world, or else be a glutton, devouring the world's due, by means of the grave (which will else swallow your beauty — cf. Sonn. 77. 6) and of yourself, who re- fuse to beget offspring" (Dowden). Steevens conjectured " be thy grave and thee " = " be at once thyself and thy grave."
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