Sonnet CL
O! from what power hast thou this powerful might,With insufficiency my heart to sway?To make me give the lie to my true sight,And swear that brightness doth not grace the day?Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill,That in the very refuse of thy deedsThere is such strength and warrantise of skill,That, in my mind, thy worst all best exceeds?Who taught thee how to make me love thee more,The more I hear and see just cause of hate?O! though I love what others do abhor,With others thou shouldst not abhor my state:If thy unworthiness rais’d love in me,More worthy I to be belov’d of thee.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- warrantise n.
- Authority; security; warranty. [OF. warentise, warandise, garantise. See Warrant, n.]
- abhor v. i.
- To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with from.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CL 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 CL, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-150.html, id L00168.
Form and metre
Sonnet CL 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 85%). 98% 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 mightA · swayB · sightA · dayB · illC · deedsD · skillC · exceedsD · moreE · hateF · abhorE · stateF · meG · theeG
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! from what power hast thou this powerful might, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| With insufficiency my heart to sway? | 10 | ·········· |
| To make me give the lie to my true sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| And swear that brightness doth not grace the day? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That in the very refuse of thy deeds | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| There is such strength and warrantise of skill, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| That, in my mind, thy worst all best exceeds? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Who taught thee how to make me love thee more, | 10 | ·········· |
| The more I hear and see just cause of hate? | 10 | ·········· |
| O! though I love what others do abhor, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| With others thou shouldst not abhor my state: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| If thy unworthiness rais’d love in me, | 10 | ·········· |
| More worthy I to be belov’d of thee. | 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.