Sonnet XX
A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquaintedWith shifting change, as is false women’s fashion:An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;A man in hue all ‘hues’ in his controlling,Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth.And for a woman wert thou first created;Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,And by addition me of thee defeated,By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure,Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- whereupon adv.
- Upon which; in consequence of which; after which.
- doting a.
- That dotes; silly; excessively fond.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XX 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 XX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-20.html, id L00038.
Form and metre
Sonnet XX is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.0 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 paintedA · passionB · acquaintedA · fashionB · rollingC · gazethD · controllingC · amazethD · createdE · dotingF · defeatedE · nothingF · pleasureG · treasureG
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion: | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘/··· |
| A man in hue all ‘hues’ in his controlling, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth. | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| And for a woman wert thou first created; | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| And by addition me of thee defeated, | 11 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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.