Sonnet CXXI
’Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d,When not to be receives reproach of being;And the just pleasure lost, which is so deem’dNot by our feeling, but by others’ seeing:For why should others’ false adulterate eyesGive salutation to my sportive blood?Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,Which in their wills count bad what I think good?No, I am that I am, and they that levelAt my abuses reckon up their own:I may be straight though they themselves be bevel;By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown;Unless this general evil they maintain,All men are bad and in their badness reign.
Words in this poem
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXI 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 CXXI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-121.html, id L00139.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXI 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 86%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 esteem'dA · beingB · deem'dA · seeingB · eyesC · bloodD · spiesC · goodD · levelE · ownF · bevelE · shownF · maintainG · reignG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ’Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| When not to be receives reproach of being; | 11 | ····˘/˘/·/˘ |
| And the just pleasure lost, which is so deem’d | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Not by our feeling, but by others’ seeing: | 11 | ··//˘··/˘/˘ |
| For why should others’ false adulterate eyes | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘·· |
| Give salutation to my sportive blood? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Which in their wills count bad what I think good? | 10 | ·········· |
| No, I am that I am, and they that level | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| At my abuses reckon up their own: | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| I may be straight though they themselves be bevel; | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown; | 10 | ·········· |
| Unless this general evil they maintain, | 10 | ···/˘˘/·˘/ |
| All men are bad and in their badness reign. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 7
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 2 When not to be, tic. When one is unjustly reproached with being so (that is, vile).
- Line 3 And the just pleasure, tic. "And the legitimate pleasure lost, which is deemed vile, not by us who experience it, but by others who look on and condemn" (Dowden).
- Line 5 Adulterate. Lewd; as in Rich. III. iv. 4. 79 and Z. C. 175. It is = adulterous in A', of I. 1 645, Ham. i. 5. 42, etc.
- Line 6 Give salutation, etc. " Take account of and criticise what my somewhat warm nature may do in gay or unrestrained mo- ments" (Tyler). Herford explains give salutation to as "affect, stir." Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 103 : — " Would I had no being, If this salute my blood a jot ! " Sportive — amorous, wanton; as in Rich. III. i. I. 14: "Shap'd for sportive tricks." Cf. sport in y<>. 2 above. S. In thAr wills. "According to their pleasure" (Dowden).
- Line 9 level. Take aim at. See on 117. II above.
- Line 11 Bevel. Slanting; figuratively opposed to straight, 01 "up- right." The word is used by S. only line.
- Line 12 Rank. Foul, gross. Cf. 69. 12 above. See also Z. C. 307: "To blush at speeches rank."
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