Sonnet CLIII
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:A maid of Dian’s this advantage found,And his love-kindling fire did quickly steepIn a cold valley-fountain of that ground;Which borrow’d from this holy fire of Love,A dateless lively heat, still to endure,And grew a seething bath, which yet men proveAgainst strange maladies a sovereign cure.But at my mistress’ eye Love’s brand new-fired,The boy for trial needs would touch my breast;I, sick withal, the help of bath desired,And thither hied, a sad distemper’d guest,But found no cure, the bath for my help liesWhere Cupid got new fire; my mistress’ eyes.
Words in this poem
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- dateless a.
- Without date; having no fixed time.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- withal adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CLIII 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 CLIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-153.html, id L00171.
Form and metre
Sonnet CLIII 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 asleepA · foundB · steepA · groundB · loveC · endureD · proveC · cureD · firedE · breastF · desiredE · guestF · liesG · eyesG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep: | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| A maid of Dian’s this advantage found, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| In a cold valley-fountain of that ground; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Which borrow’d from this holy fire of Love, | 10 | ·/···/˘/·· |
| A dateless lively heat, still to endure, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And grew a seething bath, which yet men prove | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Against strange maladies a sovereign cure. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| But at my mistress’ eye Love’s brand new-fired, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The boy for trial needs would touch my breast; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I, sick withal, the help of bath desired, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| And thither hied, a sad distemper’d guest, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But found no cure, the bath for my help lies | 10 | ·········· |
| Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress’ eyes. | 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.