Sonnet LV
Not marble, nor the gilded monumentsOf princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;But you shall shine more bright in these contentsThan unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.When wasteful war shall statues overturn,And broils root out the work of masonry,Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burnThe living record of your memory.’Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmityShall you pace forth; your praise shall still find roomEven in the eyes of all posterityThat wear this world out to the ending doom.So, till the judgement that yourself arise,You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- outlive v. t.
- To live beyond, or longer than; to survive.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LV 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 LV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-55.html, id L00073.
Form and metre
Sonnet LV 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 81%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 monumentsA · rhymeB · contentsA · timeB · overturnC · masonryD · burnC · memoryD · enmityE · roomF · posterityE · doomF · ariseG · eyesG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not marble, nor the gilded monuments | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| But you shall shine more bright in these contents | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When wasteful war shall statues overturn, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| And broils root out the work of masonry, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn | 10 | ·······/·· |
| The living record of your memory. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| ’Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmity | 11 | ····˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room | 10 | ·········· |
| Even in the eyes of all posterity | 11 | /˘·····˘/˘˘ |
| That wear this world out to the ending doom. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So, till the judgement that yourself arise, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes. | 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.