Sonnet CIII
Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth,That having such a scope to show her pride,The argument, all bare, is of more worthThan when it hath my added praise beside!O! blame me not, if I no more can write!Look in your glass, and there appears a faceThat over-goes my blunt invention quite,Dulling my lines, and doing me disgrace.Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,To mar the subject that before was well?For to no other pass my verses tendThan of your graces and your gifts to tell;And more, much more, than in my verse can sit,Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
Words in this poem
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CIII 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 CIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-103.html, id L00121.
Form and metre
Sonnet CIII 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%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 forthA · prideB · worthA · besideB · writeC · faceD · quiteC · disgraceD · mendE · wellF · tendE · tellF · sitG · itG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth, | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘···· |
| That having such a scope to show her pride, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The argument, all bare, is of more worth | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Than when it hath my added praise beside! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| O! blame me not, if I no more can write! | 10 | ·········· |
| Look in your glass, and there appears a face | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| That over-goes my blunt invention quite, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Dulling my lines, and doing me disgrace. | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Were it not sinful then, striving to mend, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| To mar the subject that before was well? | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| For to no other pass my verses tend | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Than of your graces and your gifts to tell; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And more, much more, than in my verse can sit, | 10 | ·········· |
| Your own glass shows you when you look in it. | 10 | ·········· |
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.