Sonnet CXLII
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:O! but with mine compare thou thine own state,And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine,That have profan’d their scarlet ornamentsAnd seal’d false bonds of love as oft as mine,Robb’d others’ beds’ revenues of their rents.Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov’st thoseWhom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows,Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,By self-example mayst thou be denied!
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXLII 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 CXLII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-142.html, id L00160.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXLII 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 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 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 hateA · lovingB · stateA · reprovingB · thineC · ornamentsD · mineC · rentsD · thoseE · theeF · growsE · beF · hideG · deniedG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving: | 11 | ····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| O! but with mine compare thou thine own state, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And thou shalt find it merits not reproving; | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine, | 10 | ·········· |
| That have profan’d their scarlet ornaments | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| And seal’d false bonds of love as oft as mine, | 10 | ·········· |
| Robb’d others’ beds’ revenues of their rents. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov’st those | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee: | 10 | ·········· |
| Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy pity may deserve to pitied be. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/·· |
| If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide, | 10 | ·········· |
| By self-example mayst thou be denied! | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
Notes from the edition 3
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 1 Thy dear virtue. Thy cherished virtue — the only virtue she has. She hates him for his love, and his love is sin ; and so far she is right. But, he adds, you are just as sinful.
- Line 6 Their scarlet ornaments. Cf. Edw. III. ii. I : " His cheeks put on their scarlet ornaments." The line occurs in the part of the play ascribed by suiiic to S. Sec on 94. 14 above.
- Line 13 If thou dost seek, etc. "If you seek for pity, but will show none."
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