Sonnet CIX
O! never say that I was false of heart,Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify,As easy might I from my self departAs from my soul which in thy breast doth lie:That is my home of love: if I have rang’d,Like him that travels, I return again;Just to the time, not with the time exchang’d,So that myself bring water for my stain.Never believe though in my nature reign’d,All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,That it could so preposterously be stain’d,To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;For nothing this wide universe I call,Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CIX 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 CIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-109.html, id L00127.
Form and metre
Sonnet CIX 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 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 7% 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 heartA · qualifyB · departA · lieB · rang'dC · againD · exchang'dC · stainD · reign'dE · bloodF · stain'dE · goodF · callG · allG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O! never say that I was false of heart, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As easy might I from my self depart | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie: | 10 | ·········· |
| That is my home of love: if I have rang’d, | 10 | ·········· |
| Like him that travels, I return again; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Just to the time, not with the time exchang’d, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| So that myself bring water for my stain. | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Never believe though in my nature reign’d, | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| That it could so preposterously be stain’d, | 11 | ··········· |
| To leave for nothing all thy sum of good; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For nothing this wide universe I call, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all. | 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.