Sonnet LVI
Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not saidThy edge should blunter be than appetite,Which but to-day by feeding is allay’d,To-morrow sharpened in his former might:So, love, be thou, although to-day thou fillThy hungry eyes, even till they wink with fulness,To-morrow see again, and do not killThe spirit of love, with a perpetual dulness.Let this sad interim like the ocean beWhich parts the shore, where two contracted newCome daily to the banks, that when they seeReturn of love, more blest may be the view;Or call it winter, which being full of care,Makes summer’s welcome, thrice more wished, more rare.
Words in this poem
- interim n.
- The meantime; time intervening; interval between events, etc. [L., fr. inter between + im, an old accusative of is he, this, that.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LVI 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 LVI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-56.html, id L00074.
Form and metre
Sonnet LVI 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%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends 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 saidA · appetiteB · allay'dA · mightB · fillC · fulnessD · killC · dulnessD · beE · newF · seeE · viewF · careG · rareG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Thy edge should blunter be than appetite, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which but to-day by feeding is allay’d, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To-morrow sharpened in his former might: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| So, love, be thou, although to-day thou fill | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy hungry eyes, even till they wink with fulness, | 11 | ·/˘·/····/˘ |
| To-morrow see again, and do not kill | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| The spirit of love, with a perpetual dulness. | 11 | ·/····˘/˘·· |
| Let this sad interim like the ocean be | 10 | ···/˘˘··/· |
| Which parts the shore, where two contracted new | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Come daily to the banks, that when they see | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Return of love, more blest may be the view; | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Or call it winter, which being full of care, | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| Makes summer’s welcome, thrice more wished, more rare. | 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.