Sonnet CXXXIII
Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groanFor that deep wound it gives my friend and me!Is’t not enough to torture me alone,But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be?Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken,And my next self thou harder hast engross’d:Of him, myself, and thee I am forsaken;A torment thrice three-fold thus to be cross’d:Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward,But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart bail;Whoe’er keeps me, let my heart be his guard;Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail:And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee,Perforce am thine, and all that is in me.
Words in this poem
- beshrew v. t.
- To curse; to execrate.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- rigour n.
- Rigidity; stiffness. [L. See Rigor., below.]
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- perforce v. t.
- To force; to compel.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXXXIII 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 CXXXIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-133.html, id L00151.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXXIII 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 85%). 93% 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 groanA · meB · aloneA · beB · takenC · engross'dD · forsakenC · cross'dD · wardE · bailF · guardE · jailF · theeG · meG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan | 10 | ˘/········ |
| For that deep wound it gives my friend and me! | 10 | ·········· |
| Is’t not enough to torture me alone, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be? | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken, | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| And my next self thou harder hast engross’d: | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Of him, myself, and thee I am forsaken; | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| A torment thrice three-fold thus to be cross’d: | 10 | ·/········ |
| Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart bail; | 10 | ·········· |
| Whoe’er keeps me, let my heart be his guard; | 9 | ········· |
| Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee, | 10 | ······/··· |
| Perforce am thine, and all that is in me. | 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.