Sonnet LXVII
Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,And with his presence grace impiety,That sin by him advantage should achieve,And lace itself with his society?Why should false painting imitate his cheek,And steel dead seeming of his living hue?Why should poor beauty indirectly seekRoses of shadow, since his rose is true?Why should he live, now Nature bankrupt is,Beggar’d of blood to blush through lively veins?For she hath no exchequer now but his,And proud of many, lives upon his gains.O! him she stores, to show what wealth she hadIn days long since, before these last so bad.
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- impiety n.
- The quality of being impious; want of piety; irreverence toward the Supreme Being; ungodliness; wickedness. [L. impietas, fr. impius impious; cf. F. impiété. See Impious, Piety.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXVII 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 LXVII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-67.html, id L00085.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXVII 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 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 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 liveA · impietyB · achieveA · societyB · cheekC · hueD · seekC · trueD · isE · veinsF · hisE · gainsF · hadG · badG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! wherefore with infection should he live, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And with his presence grace impiety, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| That sin by him advantage should achieve, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| And lace itself with his society? | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Why should false painting imitate his cheek, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And steel dead seeming of his living hue? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Why should poor beauty indirectly seek | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Roses of shadow, since his rose is true? | 10 | /˘·/······ |
| Why should he live, now Nature bankrupt is, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Beggar’d of blood to blush through lively veins? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For she hath no exchequer now but his, | 10 | ····/·˘··· |
| And proud of many, lives upon his gains. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| O! him she stores, to show what wealth she had | 10 | ·········· |
| In days long since, before these last so bad. | 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.