Sonnet CXXVIII
How oft when thou, my music, music play’st,Upon that blessed wood whose motion soundsWith thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’stThe wiry concord that mine ear confounds,Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap,To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap,At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand!To be so tickled, they would change their stateAnd situation with those dancing chips,O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,Making dead wood more bless’d than living lips.Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
Words in this poem
- wiry a.
- Made of wire; like wire; drawn out like wire. [Written also wiery.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXVIII 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 CXXVIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-128.html, id L00146.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXVIII 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 play'stA · soundsB · sway'stA · confoundsB · leapC · handD · reapC · standD · stateE · chipsF · gaitE · lipsF · thisG · kissG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How oft when thou, my music, music play’st, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds | 10 | ····˘··/˘· |
| With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, | 10 | ·/˘/····˘/ |
| Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To be so tickled, they would change their state | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And situation with those dancing chips, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Making dead wood more bless’d than living lips. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Since saucy jacks so happy are in this, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss. | 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.