Sonnet CXLVIII
O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head,Which have no correspondence with true sight;Or, if they have, where is my judgement fled,That censures falsely what they see aright?If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,What means the world to say it is not so?If it be not, then love doth well denoteLove’s eye is not so true as all men’s: no,How can it? O! how can Love’s eye be true,That is so vexed with watching and with tears?No marvel then, though I mistake my view;The sun itself sees not, till heaven clears.O cunning Love! with tears thou keep’st me blind,Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find.
Words in this poem
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- dote n.
- A marriage portion. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt. [See Dot dowry.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXLVIII 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 CXLVIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-148.html, id L00166.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXLVIII 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 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 headA · sightB · fledA · arightB · doteC · soD · denoteC · noD · trueE · tearsF · viewE · clearsF · blindG · findG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which have no correspondence with true sight; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Or, if they have, where is my judgement fled, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That censures falsely what they see aright? | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| What means the world to say it is not so? | 10 | ·········· |
| If it be not, then love doth well denote | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Love’s eye is not so true as all men’s: no, | 10 | ·········· |
| How can it? O! how can Love’s eye be true, | 10 | ·········· |
| That is so vexed with watching and with tears? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No marvel then, though I mistake my view; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The sun itself sees not, till heaven clears. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| O cunning Love! with tears thou keep’st me blind, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find. | 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.