Sonnet XXV
Let those who are in favour with their starsOf public honour and proud titles boast,Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph barsUnlook’d for joy in that I honour most.Great princes’ favourites their fair leaves spreadBut as the marigold at the sun’s eye,And in themselves their pride lies buried,For at a frown they in their glory die.The painful warrior famoused for fight,After a thousand victories once foil’d,Is from the book of honour razed quite,And all the rest forgot for which he toil’d:Then happy I, that love and am belov’d,Where I may not remove nor be remov’d.
Words in this poem
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- razed a.
- Slashed or striped in patterns.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXV 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 XXV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-25.html, id L00043.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXV 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 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends 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 starsA · boastB · barsA · mostB · spreadC · eyeD · buriedC · dieD · fightE · foil'dF · quiteE · toil'dF · belov'dG · remov'dG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let those who are in favour with their stars | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of public honour and proud titles boast, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Unlook’d for joy in that I honour most. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Great princes’ favourites their fair leaves spread | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But as the marigold at the sun’s eye, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And in themselves their pride lies buried, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| For at a frown they in their glory die. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The painful warrior famoused for fight, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| After a thousand victories once foil’d, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Is from the book of honour razed quite, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| And all the rest forgot for which he toil’d: | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Then happy I, that love and am belov’d, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Where I may not remove nor be remov’d. | 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.