Sonnet LXXV
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;And for the peace of you I hold such strifeAs ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found.Now proud as an enjoyer, and anonDoubting the filching age will steal his treasure;Now counting best to be with you alone,Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,And by and by clean starved for a look;Possessing or pursuing no delight,Save what is had, or must from you be took.Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- enjoyer n.
- One who enjoys.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- sometime adv.
- At a past time indefinitely referred to; once; formerly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXV 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 LXXV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-75.html, id L00093.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXV 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%). 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. 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 lifeA · groundB · strifeA · foundB · anonC · treasureD · aloneC · pleasureD · sightE · lookF · delightE · tookF · dayG · awayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So are you to my thoughts as food to life, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground; | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| And for the peace of you I hold such strife | 10 | ·········· |
| As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure; | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Now counting best to be with you alone, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure: | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| And by and by clean starved for a look; | 10 | ······˘··· |
| Possessing or pursuing no delight, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Save what is had, or must from you be took. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or gluttoning on all, or all away. | 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.