Sonnet CXXXI
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;For well thou know’st to my dear doting heartThou art the fairest and most precious jewel.Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold,Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;To say they err I dare not be so bold,Although I swear it to myself alone.And to be sure that is not false I swear,A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face,One on another’s neck, do witness bearThy black is fairest in my judgement’s place.In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.
Words in this poem
- tyrannous a.
- Tyrannical; arbitrary; unjustly severe; despotic. Sir P.
- doting a.
- That dotes; silly; excessively fond.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXXI 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 CXXXI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-131.html, id L00149.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXXI 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%). 98% 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. 14% 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 artA · cruelB · heartA · jewelB · beholdC · groanD · boldC · aloneD · swearE · faceF · bearE · placeF · deedsG · proceedsG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thy face hath not the power to make love groan; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| To say they err I dare not be so bold, | 10 | ·········· |
| Although I swear it to myself alone. | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| And to be sure that is not false I swear, | 10 | ·········· |
| A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| One on another’s neck, do witness bear | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thy black is fairest in my judgement’s place. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds. | 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.