Sonnet LIV
O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seemBy that sweet ornament which truth doth give.The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deemFor that sweet odour, which doth in it live.The canker blooms have full as deep a dyeAs the perfumed tincture of the roses.Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonlyWhen summer’s breath their masked buds discloses:But, for their virtue only is their show,They live unwoo’d, and unrespected fade;Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;Of their sweet deaths, are sweetest odours made:And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,When that shall vade, by verse distills your truth.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
- wantonly adv.
- In a wanton manner; without regularity or restraint; loosely; sportively; gayly; playfully; recklessly; lasciviously.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- vade v. i.
- To fade; hence, to vanish. [For fade.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LIV 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 LIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-54.html, id L00072.
Form and metre
Sonnet LIV 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%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 seemA · giveB · deemA · liveB · dyeC · rosesD · wantonlyC · disclosesD · showE · fadeF · soE · madeF · youthG · truthG
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 much more doth beauty beauteous seem | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘· |
| By that sweet ornament which truth doth give. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For that sweet odour, which doth in it live. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The canker blooms have full as deep a dye | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As the perfumed tincture of the roses. | 10 | ··˘//˘··/˘ |
| Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| When summer’s breath their masked buds discloses: | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| But, for their virtue only is their show, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| They live unwoo’d, and unrespected fade; | 10 | ·········· |
| Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Of their sweet deaths, are sweetest odours made: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, | 11 | ····/˘˘·/˘· |
| When that shall vade, by verse distills your truth. | 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.