Sonnet CXLVI
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,My sinful earth these rebel powers array,Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?Why so large cost, having so short a lease,Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body’s end?Then soul, live thou upon thy servant’s loss,And let that pine to aggravate thy store;Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;Within be fed, without be rich no more:So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.
Words in this poem
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- 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,]
- aggravate v. t.
- To make heavy or heavier; to add to; to increase. [L. aggravatus, p. p. of aggravare. See Aggrieve.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXLVI 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 CXLVI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-146.html, id L00164.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXLVI 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 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 earthA · arrayB · dearthA · gayB · leaseC · spendD · excessC · endD · lossE · storeF · drossE · moreF · menG · thenG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My sinful earth these rebel powers array, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/ |
| Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Painting thy outward walls so costly gay? | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Why so large cost, having so short a lease, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend? | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body’s end? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then soul, live thou upon thy servant’s loss, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And let that pine to aggravate thy store; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/·· |
| Within be fed, without be rich no more: | 10 | ·········· |
| So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men, | 10 | ·········· |
| And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 3
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 8 Thy charge? That on which you have expended so much. Cf. K. John, i. 1. 49 : "this expedition's charge,'' etc.
- Line 10 Aggravate. Increase. Cf. M. N. D. i. 2. 84 (Bottom's speech) : "I will aggravate my voice," etc.
- Line 11 Terms. Walker says : "In the legal and academic sense ; long periods of time, opposed to hours." Cf. 2 Hen. IV. v. I. 90 : " the wearing out of six fashions, which is four terms, or two actions." Tyler strangely takes this passage to refer only to " im- mortal renown, which is to be purchased by . . . study and enthu- siastic literary work." He also refers 13, 14, to mere "literary immortality."
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