Sonnet CLII
In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn,But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing;In act thy bed-vow broke, and new faith torn,In vowing new hate after new love bearing:But why of two oaths’ breach do I accuse thee,When I break twenty? I am perjur’d most;For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee,And all my honest faith in thee is lost:For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy;And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness,Or made them swear against the thing they see;For I have sworn thee fair; more perjured I,To swear against the truth so foul a lie.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- perjured a.
- Guilty of perjury; having sworn falsely; forsworn.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CLII 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 CLII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-152.html, id L00170.
Form and metre
Sonnet CLII 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%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 forswornA · swearingB · tornA · bearingB · theeC · mostD · theeC · lostD · kindnessE · constancyF · blindnessE · seeF · iG · lieG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn, | 10 | ·/˘······/ |
| But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing; | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| In act thy bed-vow broke, and new faith torn, | 10 | ·········· |
| In vowing new hate after new love bearing: | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| But why of two oaths’ breach do I accuse thee, | 11 | ········˘/· |
| When I break twenty? I am perjur’d most; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee, | 11 | ········˘/· |
| And all my honest faith in thee is lost: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy; | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness, | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Or made them swear against the thing they see; | 10 | ·········· |
| For I have sworn thee fair; more perjured I, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To swear against the truth so foul a lie. | 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.