Sonnet LXXIX
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;But now my gracious numbers are decay’d,And my sick Muse doth give an other place.I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argumentDeserves the travail of a worthier pen;Yet what of thee thy poet doth inventHe robs thee of, and pays it thee again.He lends thee virtue, and he stole that wordFrom thy behaviour; beauty doth he give,And found it in thy cheek: he can affordNo praise to thee, but what in thee doth live.Then thank him not for that which he doth say,Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.
Words in this poem
- invent v. t.
- To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See Come.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXIX 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 LXXIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-79.html, id L00097.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXIX 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%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 aidA · graceB · decay'dA · placeB · argumentC · penD · inventC · againD · wordE · giveF · affordE · liveF · sayG · payG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| My verse alone had all thy gentle grace; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| But now my gracious numbers are decay’d, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And my sick Muse doth give an other place. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Deserves the travail of a worthier pen; | 10 | ˘/·˘/··/˘· |
| Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| He robs thee of, and pays it thee again. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And found it in thy cheek: he can afford | 10 | ········˘/ |
| No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then thank him not for that which he doth say, | 10 | ·········· |
| Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay. | 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.