Sonnet XIX
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,And burn the long-liv’d phoenix, in her blood;Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,To the wide world and all her fading sweets;But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:O! carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow,Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;Him in thy course untainted do allowFor beauty’s pattern to succeeding men.Yet do thy worst, old Time; despite thy wrong,My love shall in my verse ever live young.
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XIX 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 XIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-19.html, id L00037.
Form and metre
Sonnet XIX 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%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 pawsA · broodB · jawsA · bloodB · fleetsC · timeD · sweetsC · crimeD · browE · penF · allowE · menF · wrongG · youngG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And burn the long-liv’d phoenix, in her blood; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, | 11 | ··˘˘/···/˘· |
| To the wide world and all her fading sweets; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But I forbid thee one most heinous crime: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| O! carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen; | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Him in thy course untainted do allow | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| For beauty’s pattern to succeeding men. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Yet do thy worst, old Time; despite thy wrong, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| My love shall in my verse ever live young. | 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.