Sonnet XCIX
The forward violet thus did I chide:Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,If not from my love’s breath? The purple prideWhich on thy soft cheek for complexion dwellsIn my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dy’d.The lily I condemned for thy hand,And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair;The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,One blushing shame, another white despair;A third, nor red nor white, had stol’n of both,And to his robbery had annex’d thy breath;But, for his theft, in pride of all his growthA vengeful canker eat him up to death.More flowers I noted, yet I none could see,But sweet, or colour it had stol’n from thee.
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- complexion n.
- The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- fearfully adv.
- In a fearful manner.
- vengeful a.
- Vindictive; retributive; revengeful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XCIX 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 XCIX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-99.html, id L00117.
Form and metre
Sonnet XCIX is 15 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABACDCDEFEFGG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABABACDCDEFEFGG chideA · smellsB · prideA · dwellsB · dy'dA · handC · hairD · standC · despairD · bothE · breathF · growthE · deathF · seeG · theeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The forward violet thus did I chide: | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells, | 10 | ·········· |
| If not from my love’s breath? The purple pride | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dy’d. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The lily I condemned for thy hand, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The roses fearfully on thorns did stand, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| One blushing shame, another white despair; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| A third, nor red nor white, had stol’n of both, | 10 | ·········· |
| And to his robbery had annex’d thy breath; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth | 10 | ·········· |
| A vengeful canker eat him up to death. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| More flowers I noted, yet I none could see, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| But sweet, or colour it had stol’n from thee. | 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.