Sonnet LVIII
That god forbid, that made me first your slave,I should in thought control your times of pleasure,Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure!O! let me suffer, being at your beck,The imprison’d absence of your liberty;And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,Without accusing you of injury.Be where you list, your charter is so strongThat you yourself may privilage your timeTo what you will; to you it doth belongYourself to pardon of self-doing crime.I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,Not blame your pleasure be it ill or well.
Words in this poem
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- sufferance n.
- The state of suffering; the bearing of pain; endurance. [OE. suffrance, OF. sufrance, soufrance, F. souffrance, L. sufferentia, from sufferens, -entis, p.pr. of sufferre. See Suffer.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LVIII 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 LVIII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-58.html, id L00076.
Form and metre
Sonnet LVIII 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 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 slaveA · pleasureB · craveA · leisureB · beckC · libertyD · checkC · injuryD · strongE · timeF · belongE · crimeF · hellG · wellG
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 god forbid, that made me first your slave, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| I should in thought control your times of pleasure, | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Or at your hand the account of hours to crave, | 11 | ·····˘/·/·· |
| Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure! | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| O! let me suffer, being at your beck, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The imprison’d absence of your liberty; | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘··· |
| Without accusing you of injury. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Be where you list, your charter is so strong | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That you yourself may privilage your time | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To what you will; to you it doth belong | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime. | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| I am to wait, though waiting so be hell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Not blame your pleasure be it ill or well. | 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.