Sonnet XCV
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shameWhich, like a canker in the fragrant rose,Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!O! in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose.That tongue that tells the story of thy days,Making lascivious comments on thy sport,Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise;Naming thy name, blesses an ill report.O! what a mansion have those vices gotWhich for their habitation chose out thee,Where beauty’s veil doth cover every blotAnd all things turns to fair that eyes can see!Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;The hardest knife ill-us’d doth lose his edge.
Words in this poem
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
- dispraise v. t.
- To withdraw praise from; to notice with disapprobation or some degree of censure; to disparage; to blame. [OE. dispreisen, OF. desprisier, despreisier, F. dépriser; pref. des- (L. dis-) + prisier, F. priser, to prize, praise. See Praise, and cf. Disprize, Depreciate.]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XCV 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 XCV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-95.html, id L00113.
Form and metre
Sonnet XCV 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 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends 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 shameA · roseB · nameA · encloseB · daysC · sportD · praiseC · reportD · gotE · theeF · blotE · seeF · privilegeG · edgeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| O! in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| That tongue that tells the story of thy days, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Making lascivious comments on thy sport, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise; | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| Naming thy name, blesses an ill report. | 10 | /˘··/˘··˘/ |
| O! what a mansion have those vices got | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which for their habitation chose out thee, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Where beauty’s veil doth cover every blot | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And all things turns to fair that eyes can see! | 10 | ·········· |
| Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The hardest knife ill-us’d doth lose his edge. | 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.