Sonnet LXXXIX
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,And I will comment upon that offence:Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,Against thy reasons making no defence.Thou canst not love disgrace me half so ill,To set a form upon desired change,As I’ll myself disgrace; knowing thy will,I will acquaintance strangle, and look strange;Be absent from thy walks; and in my tongueThy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell,Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong,And haply of our old acquaintance tell.For thee, against my self I’ll vow debate,For I must ne’er love him whom thou dost hate.
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- offence n.
- The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- 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,]
- 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]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXXIX 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 LXXXIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-89.html, id L00107.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXXIX 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 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 faultA · offenceB · haltA · defenceB · illC · changeD · willC · strangeD · tongueE · dwellF · wrongE · tellF · debateG · hateG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And I will comment upon that offence: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Against thy reasons making no defence. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thou canst not love disgrace me half so ill, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| To set a form upon desired change, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As I’ll myself disgrace; knowing thy will, | 10 | ···/˘//˘·· |
| I will acquaintance strangle, and look strange; | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Be absent from thy walks; and in my tongue | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And haply of our old acquaintance tell. | 10 | ·/˘·/·˘/˘· |
| For thee, against my self I’ll vow debate, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For I must ne’er love him whom thou dost hate. | 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.