Sonnet XIII
O! that you were your self; but, love you areNo longer yours, than you yourself here live:Against this coming end you should prepare,And your sweet semblance to some other give:So should that beauty which you hold in leaseFind no determination; then you wereYourself again, after yourself’s decease,When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,Which husbandry in honour might uphold,Against the stormy gusts of winter’s dayAnd barren rage of death’s eternal cold?O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know,You had a father: let your son say so.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XIII 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 XIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-13.html, id L00031.
Form and metre
Sonnet XIII 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 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 areA · liveB · prepareA · giveB · leaseC · wereD · deceaseC · bearD · decayE · upholdF · dayE · coldF · knowG · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| O! that you were your self; but, love you are | 10 | ·········· |
| No longer yours, than you yourself here live: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Against this coming end you should prepare, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And your sweet semblance to some other give: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So should that beauty which you hold in lease | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Find no determination; then you were | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘··· |
| Yourself again, after yourself’s decease, | 10 | ˘/˘/··˘/˘/ |
| When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Which husbandry in honour might uphold, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Against the stormy gusts of winter’s day | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And barren rage of death’s eternal cold? | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know, | 10 | ·········· |
| You had a father: let your son say so. | 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.