Sonnet LXV
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,But sad mortality o’ersways their power,How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,Whose action is no stronger than a flower?O! how shall summer’s honey breath hold out,Against the wrackful siege of battering days,When rocks impregnable are not so stout,Nor gates of steel so strong but Time decays?O fearful meditation! where, alack,Shall Time’s best jewel from Time’s chest lie hid?Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?O! none, unless this miracle have might,That in black ink my love may still shine bright.
Words in this poem
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- 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,]
- wrackful a.
- Ruinous; destructive.
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXV 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 LXV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-65.html, id L00083.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXV 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 seaA · powerB · pleaA · flowerB · outC · daysD · stoutC · decaysD · alackE · hidF · backE · forbidF · mightG · brightG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But sad mortality o’ersways their power, | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whose action is no stronger than a flower? | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| O! how shall summer’s honey breath hold out, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Against the wrackful siege of battering days, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When rocks impregnable are not so stout, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Nor gates of steel so strong but Time decays? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| O fearful meditation! where, alack, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Shall Time’s best jewel from Time’s chest lie hid? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? | 10 | ·········· |
| Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| O! none, unless this miracle have might, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| That in black ink my love may still shine bright. | 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.