Sonnet CXIX
What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,Distill’d from limbecks foul as hell within,Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears,Still losing when I saw myself to win!What wretched errors hath my heart committed,Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted,In the distraction of this madding fever!O benefit of ill! now I find trueThat better is, by evil still made better;And ruin’d love, when it is built anew,Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.So I return rebuk’d to my content,And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.
Words in this poem
- distraction n.
- The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation. [L. distractio: cf. F. distraction.]
- madding a.
- Affected with madness; raging; furious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXIX 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 CXIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-119.html, id L00137.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXIX 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%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 tearsA · withinB · fearsA · winB · committedC · neverD · fittedC · feverD · trueE · betterF · anewE · greaterF · contentG · spentG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Distill’d from limbecks foul as hell within, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Still losing when I saw myself to win! | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| What wretched errors hath my heart committed, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never! | 10 | ····˘/··/˘ |
| How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| In the distraction of this madding fever! | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| O benefit of ill! now I find true | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| That better is, by evil still made better; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| And ruin’d love, when it is built anew, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater. | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| So I return rebuk’d to my content, | 10 | ··˘/˘/··˘/ |
| And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent. | 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.