Sonnet XXXIX
O! how thy worth with manners may I sing,When thou art all the better part of me?What can mine own praise to mine own self bring?And what is’t but mine own when I praise thee?Even for this, let us divided live,And our dear love lose name of single one,That by this separation I may giveThat due to thee which thou deserv’st alone.O absence! what a torment wouldst thou prove,Were it not thy sour leisure gave sweet leave,To entertain the time with thoughts of love,Which time and thoughts so sweetly doth deceive,And that thou teachest how to make one twain,By praising him here who doth hence remain.
Words in this poem
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXIX 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 XXXIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-39.html, id L00057.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXIX 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 singA · meB · bringA · theeB · liveC · oneD · giveC · aloneD · proveE · leaveF · loveE · deceiveF · twainG · remainG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O! how thy worth with manners may I sing, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When thou art all the better part of me? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What can mine own praise to mine own self bring? | 10 | ·········· |
| And what is’t but mine own when I praise thee? | 10 | ·········· |
| Even for this, let us divided live, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| And our dear love lose name of single one, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| That by this separation I may give | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That due to thee which thou deserv’st alone. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| O absence! what a torment wouldst thou prove, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Were it not thy sour leisure gave sweet leave, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| To entertain the time with thoughts of love, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Which time and thoughts so sweetly doth deceive, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And that thou teachest how to make one twain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By praising him here who doth hence remain. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
Notes from the edition 3
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 7 That by this separation, etc. " Separation justifies the poet's praise of his friend, which was not justified while their dear love was undivided ; for to praise him then was to praise himself, since they were one, the friend being all the better part of the poet " (Wyndham).
- Line 12 Which time and thoughts, etc. Which doth so sweetly be- guile time and thoughts. Malone takes thoughts to be = melan- choly. See on 44. 9 below. The quarto has "dost" for doth; corrected by Malone. Wyndham retains and defends " dost."
- Line 13 "Absence teaches how to make of the absent beloved two persons : one, absent in reality ; the other, present to imagi- nation " (Dowden).
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