Sonnet XLII
That thou hast her it is not all my grief,And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;That she hath thee is of my wailing chief,A loss in love that touches me more nearly.Loving offenders thus I will excuse ye:Thou dost love her, because thou know’st I love her;And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her.If I lose thee, my loss is my love’s gain,And losing her, my friend hath found that loss;Both find each other, and I lose both twain,And both for my sake lay on me this cross:But here’s the joy; my friend and I are one;Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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 XLII 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 XLII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-42.html, id L00060.
Form and metre
Sonnet XLII 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 78%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 griefA · dearlyB · chiefA · nearlyB · yeC · herD · meC · herD · gainE · lossF · twainE · crossF · oneG · aloneG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That thou hast her it is not all my grief, | 10 | ·········· |
| And yet it may be said I loved her dearly; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| That she hath thee is of my wailing chief, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A loss in love that touches me more nearly. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Loving offenders thus I will excuse ye: | 11 | /˘˘/˘···˘/· |
| Thou dost love her, because thou know’st I love her; | 11 | ··········· |
| And for my sake even so doth she abuse me, | 11 | ····/···˘/· |
| Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her. | 11 | /˘······˘/· |
| If I lose thee, my loss is my love’s gain, | 10 | ·········· |
| And losing her, my friend hath found that loss; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Both find each other, and I lose both twain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And both for my sake lay on me this cross: | 10 | ·········· |
| But here’s the joy; my friend and I are one; | 10 | ·········· |
| Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone. | 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.