Sonnet XXXI
Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts,Which I by lacking have supposed dead;And there reigns Love, and all Love’s loving parts,And all those friends which I thought buried.How many a holy and obsequious tearHath dear religious love stol’n from mine eye,As interest of the dead, which now appearBut things remov’d that hidden in thee lie!Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,Who all their parts of me to thee did give,That due of many now is thine alone:Their images I lov’d, I view in thee,And thou, all they, hast all the all of me.
Words in this poem
- obsequious a.
- Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. [L.obsequiosus, fr. obsequium compliance, fr. obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F. obséquieux, See Obsequent, and cf. Obsequy.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXI 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 XXXI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-31.html, id L00049.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXI 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%). 98% 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. 14% 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 heartsA · deadB · partsA · buriedB · tearC · eyeD · appearC · lieD · liveE · goneF · giveE · aloneF · theeG · meG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Which I by lacking have supposed dead; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And there reigns Love, and all Love’s loving parts, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And all those friends which I thought buried. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| How many a holy and obsequious tear | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Hath dear religious love stol’n from mine eye, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| As interest of the dead, which now appear | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| But things remov’d that hidden in thee lie! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Thou art the grave where buried love doth live, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who all their parts of me to thee did give, | 10 | ·········· |
| That due of many now is thine alone: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Their images I lov’d, I view in thee, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| And thou, all they, hast all the all of me. | 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.