Sonnet CXXVII
In the old age black was not counted fair,Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name;But now is black beauty’s successive heir,And beauty slander’d with a bastard shame:For since each hand hath put on Nature’s power,Fairing the foul with Art’s false borrowed face,Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,But is profan’d, if not lives in disgrace.Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black,Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seemAt such who, not born fair, no beauty lack,Sland’ring creation with a false esteem:Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe,That every tongue says beauty should look so.
Words in this poem
- fairing n.
- A present; originally, one given or purchased at a fair. Gay.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXVII 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 CXXVII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-127.html, id L00145.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXVII 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 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 fairA · nameB · heirA · shameB · powerC · faceD · bowerC · disgraceD · blackE · seemF · lackE · esteemF · woeG · soG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the old age black was not counted fair, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But now is black beauty’s successive heir, | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘· |
| And beauty slander’d with a bastard shame: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For since each hand hath put on Nature’s power, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Fairing the foul with Art’s false borrowed face, | 10 | /˘·····/·· |
| Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| But is profan’d, if not lives in disgrace. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sland’ring creation with a false esteem: | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That every tongue says beauty should look so. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 4
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 1 In the old age black was not counted fair. White remarks : "This is an allusion to the remarkable fact that during the chiv- alric ages brunettes were not acknowledged as beauties anywhere in Christendom. In all the old contes fabliaux, and romances that I am acquainted with, the heroines are blondes. And more, the possession of dark eyes and hair, and the complexion that accom- panies them, is referred to by the troubadours as a misfortune."
- Line 3 Successive. By order of succession ; as in 2 Hen. VI. iii. I. 49 : "As next the king he was successive heir."
- Line 10 Suited. Clad ; as in M. of V. i. 2. 79, A. IV. i. I. 170, etc. For and they Dyce reads "as they."
- Line 13 Becoming of. Cracing. This use of of with verbals is not uncommon in S.
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