Sonnet LXXX
O how I faint when I of you do write,Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,And in the praise thereof spends all his might,To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame!But since your worth, wide as the ocean is,The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,My saucy bark, inferior far to his,On your broad main doth wilfully appear.Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;Or, being wrack’d, I am a worthless boat,He of tall building, and of goodly pride:Then if he thrive and I be cast away,The worst was this: my love was my decay.
Words in this poem
- afloat adv.
- Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- wrack n.
- Wreck; ruin; destruction. [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXX 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 LXXX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-80.html, id L00098.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXX 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 85%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 writeA · nameB · mightA · fameB · isC · bearD · hisC · appearD · afloatE · rideF · boatE · prideF · awayG · decayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O how I faint when I of you do write, | 10 | ·········· |
| Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, | 10 | /·/˘/˘···· |
| And in the praise thereof spends all his might, | 10 | ·········· |
| To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My saucy bark, inferior far to his, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| On your broad main doth wilfully appear. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or, being wrack’d, I am a worthless boat, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| He of tall building, and of goodly pride: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then if he thrive and I be cast away, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The worst was this: my love was my decay. | 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.