Sonnet 10
Reason, in faith thou art well serv’d, that stillWould’st brabling be, with sence and love in me:I rather with thee climbe the Muses hill,Or reach the fruite of Natures chiefest tree:Or seeke heavens course, or heavens inside to see:Why should’st thou toyle, our thornie soyle to till?Leave sence and those that sences objects be,Deale thou with powers, of thoughts leave love to will.But thou wouldst needes fight both with Love and sence,With sworde of witte, giving woundes of dispraise:Till down-right blowes did foyle thy cunning fence,So soone as they strake thee with Stellas rayes.Reason, thou knewest, and offered straight to prove;By reason good, good reason her to love.
Words in this poem
- chiefest a.
- First or foremost; chief; principal. [Superl. of Chief.]
- soyle v. t.
- To solve, to clear up; as, to soyl all other texts. [Aphetic form of assoil.]
- witte v. t.
- To know; to learn. [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. wat, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wiz]
- 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.]
- strake n.
- A streak. Spenser."White strake." Gen. xxx. 37. [See Streak.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 10 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sir P.S.: His Astrophel and Stella Wherein the excellence of sweete poesie is concluded, Project Gutenberg ebook #56375; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Sidney, Sonnet 10, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-10.html, id L04766.
Form and metre
Sonnet 10 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBABACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 7% 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 ABABBABACDCDEE stillA · meB · hillA · treeB · seeB · tillA · beB · willA · senceC · dispraiseD · fenceC · rayesD · proveE · loveE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Reason, in faith thou art well serv’d, that still | 10 | /˘········ |
| Would’st brabling be, with sence and love in me: | 10 | ·········· |
| I rather with thee climbe the Muses hill, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Or reach the fruite of Natures chiefest tree: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Or seeke heavens course, or heavens inside to see: | 12 | ··/˘··/˘/··· |
| Why should’st thou toyle, our thornie soyle to till? | 12 | ·····/······ |
| Leave sence and those that sences objects be, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Deale thou with powers, of thoughts leave love to will. | 10 | ···/······ |
| But thou wouldst needes fight both with Love and sence, | 10 | ·········· |
| With sworde of witte, giving woundes of dispraise: | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Till down-right blowes did foyle thy cunning fence, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So soone as they strake thee with Stellas rayes. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Reason, thou knewest, and offered straight to prove; | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘··· |
| By reason good, good reason her to love. | 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.