Sonnet CXI
O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide,The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,That did not better for my life provideThan public means which public manners breeds.Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,And almost thence my nature is subdu’dTo what it works in, like the dyer’s hand:Pity me, then, and wish I were renew’d;Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink,Potions of eisel ’gainst my strong infection;No bitterness that I will bitter think,Nor double penance, to correct correction.Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
Words in this poem
- eisel n.
- Vinegar; verjuice. Sir T. More. [OF. aisil, aissil, fr. L. acet. Cf. Acetic.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXI 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 CXI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-111.html, id L00129.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXI 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 88%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 chideA · deedsB · provideA · breedsB · brandC · subdu'dD · handC · renew'dD · drinkE · infectionF · thinkE · correctionF · yeG · meG
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! for my sake do you with Fortune chide, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| That did not better for my life provide | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Than public means which public manners breeds. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And almost thence my nature is subdu’d | 10 | ·/···/˘·˘/ |
| To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Pity me, then, and wish I were renew’d; | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Potions of eisel ’gainst my strong infection; | 11 | /˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| No bitterness that I will bitter think, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Nor double penance, to correct correction. | 11 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye, | 11 | /˘······˘/· |
| Even that your pity is enough to cure me. | 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.