Sonnet III
Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewestNow is the time that face should form another;Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.For where is she so fair whose unear’d wombDisdains the tillage of thy husbandry?Or who is he so fond will be the tomb,Of his self-love to stop posterity?Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in theeCalls back the lovely April of her prime;So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.But if thou live, remember’d not to be,Die single and thine image dies with thee.
Words in this poem
- unbless v. t.
- To deprive of blessings; to make wretched. [1st pref. un- + bless.]
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet III 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 III, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-3.html, id L00021.
Form and metre
Sonnet III 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 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: song / tongue, even / heaven, gone / moan, amiss / is, approve / love and 4 more.
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 viewestA · anotherB · renewestA · motherB · wombC · husbandryD · tombC · posterityD · theeE · primeF · seeE · timeF · beG · theeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Now is the time that face should form another; | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. | 11 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| For where is she so fair whose unear’d womb | 10 | ·········· |
| Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Or who is he so fond will be the tomb, | 10 | ·········· |
| Of his self-love to stop posterity? | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Calls back the lovely April of her prime; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| So thou through windows of thine age shalt see, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time. | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| But if thou live, remember’d not to be, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Die single and thine image dies with thee. | 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.