Sonnet CXLIX
Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,When I against myself with thee partake?Do I not think on thee, when I forgotAm of my self, all tyrant, for thy sake?Who hateth thee that I do call my friend,On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon,Nay, if thou lour’st on me, do I not spendRevenge upon myself with present moan?What merit do I in my self respect,That is so proud thy service to despise,When all my best doth worship thy defect,Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind;Those that can see thou lov’st, and I am blind.
Words in this poem
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CXLIX 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 CXLIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-149.html, id L00167.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXLIX 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 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 notA · partakeB · forgotA · sakeB · friendC · uponD · spendC · moanD · respectE · despiseF · defectE · eyesF · mindG · blindG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When I against myself with thee partake? | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Do I not think on thee, when I forgot | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Am of my self, all tyrant, for thy sake? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who hateth thee that I do call my friend, | 10 | ·········· |
| On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nay, if thou lour’st on me, do I not spend | 10 | ·········· |
| Revenge upon myself with present moan? | 10 | ˘/···/·/˘· |
| What merit do I in my self respect, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| That is so proud thy service to despise, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| When all my best doth worship thy defect, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Commanded by the motion of thine eyes? | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind; | 10 | ·········· |
| Those that can see thou lov’st, and I am blind. | 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.