Sonnet LVII
Being your slave what should I do but tend,Upon the hours, and times of your desire?I have no precious time at all to spend;Nor services to do, till you require.Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour,Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,Nor think the bitterness of absence sour,When you have bid your servant once adieu;Nor dare I question with my jealous thoughtWhere you may be, or your affairs suppose,But, like a sad slave, stay and think of noughtSave, where you are, how happy you make those.So true a fool is love, that in your will,Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
About this text
Sonnet LVII 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 LVII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-57.html, id L00075.
Form and metre
Sonnet LVII 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 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 tendA · desireB · spendA · requireB · hourC · youD · sourC · adieuD · thoughtE · supposeF · noughtE · thoseF · willG · illG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Being your slave what should I do but tend, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Upon the hours, and times of your desire? | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| I have no precious time at all to spend; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor services to do, till you require. | 11 | ·/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor think the bitterness of absence sour, | 11 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| When you have bid your servant once adieu; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Nor dare I question with my jealous thought | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where you may be, or your affairs suppose, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought | 10 | ·········· |
| Save, where you are, how happy you make those. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So true a fool is love, that in your will, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though you do anything, he thinks no ill. | 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.