Sonnet LXXXIV
Who is it that says most, which can say more,Than this rich praise: that you alone are you,In whose confine immured is the storeWhich should example where your equal grew.Lean penury within that pen doth dwellThat to his subject lends not some small glory;But he that writes of you, if he can tellThat you are you, so dignifies his story,Let him but copy what in you is writ,Not making worse what nature made so clear,And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,Making his style admired every where.You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.
Words in this poem
- penury n.
- Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. [L. penuria; cf. Gr. pénurie.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- 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,]
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXXIV 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 LXXXIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-84.html, id L00102.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXXIV 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 82%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 moreA · youB · storeA · grewB · dwellC · gloryD · tellC · storyD · writE · clearF · witE · whereF · curseG · worseG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who is it that says most, which can say more, | 10 | ·········· |
| Than this rich praise: that you alone are you, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| In whose confine immured is the store | 10 | ··˘/··˘··· |
| Which should example where your equal grew. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Lean penury within that pen doth dwell | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| That to his subject lends not some small glory; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| But he that writes of you, if he can tell | 10 | ·········· |
| That you are you, so dignifies his story, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Let him but copy what in you is writ, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Not making worse what nature made so clear, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And such a counterpart shall fame his wit, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Making his style admired every where. | 10 | /˘··˘//˘˘· |
| You to your beauteous blessings add a curse, | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse. | 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.