Sonnet XIV
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;And yet methinks I have astronomy,But not to tell of good or evil luck,Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,Or say with princes if it shall go wellBy oft predict that I in heaven find:But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,And constant stars in them I read such artAs ‘Truth and beauty shall together thrive,If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert’;Or else of thee this I prognosticate:‘Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.’
Words in this poem
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- derive v. t.
- To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon. [F. dériver, L. derivare; de- + rivus stream, brook. See Rival.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XIV 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 XIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-14.html, id L00032.
Form and metre
Sonnet XIV 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%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 pluckA · astronomyB · luckA · qualityB · tellC · windD · wellC · findD · deriveE · artF · thriveE · convertF · prognosticateG · dateG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And yet methinks I have astronomy, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| But not to tell of good or evil luck, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Or say with princes if it shall go well | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By oft predict that I in heaven find: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And constant stars in them I read such art | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As ‘Truth and beauty shall together thrive, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert’; | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Or else of thee this I prognosticate: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| ‘Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.’ | 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.