Sonnet 13
Phœbus was Judge, betweene Jove, Mars, & love,Of those three Gods whose armes the fairest were:Joves golden shield, did Eagle Sables beare:Whose talents held young Ganimede above.But in verde fielde, Mars bare a golden Speare,Which through a bleeding heart, his point did shove:Each had his Crest, Mars carried Venus glove.Jove on his Helme the Thunderbolt did reare.Cupid then smiles, for on his crest there lyesStellas faire haire, her face he makes his shielde:Where Roses gueules, are borne in silver fielde.Phœbus drewe wide the Curtaine of the skyesTo blase the last, and swore devoutly then:The first thus macht, were scarcely Gentlemen.
Words in this poem
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- thunderbolt n.
- A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- blase a.
- Having the sensibilities deadened by excess or frequency of enjoyment; sated or surfeited with pleasure; used up. [F., p. p. of blaser.]
- devoutly adv.
- In a devout and reverent manner; with devout emotions; piously.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 13 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 13, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-13.html, id L04769.
Form and metre
Sonnet 13 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 A-BABAABCDDCEE loveA · were · beareB · aboveA · speareB · shoveA · gloveA · reareB · lyesC · shieldeD · fieldeD · skyesC · thenE · gentlemenE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Phœbus was Judge, betweene Jove, Mars, & love, | 9 | ········· |
| Of those three Gods whose armes the fairest were: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Joves golden shield, did Eagle Sables beare: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Whose talents held young Ganimede above. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But in verde fielde, Mars bare a golden Speare, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Which through a bleeding heart, his point did shove: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Each had his Crest, Mars carried Venus glove. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Jove on his Helme the Thunderbolt did reare. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Cupid then smiles, for on his crest there lyes | 10 | /˘········ |
| Stellas faire haire, her face he makes his shielde: | 10 | /˘········ |
| Where Roses gueules, are borne in silver fielde. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Phœbus drewe wide the Curtaine of the skyes | 10 | ·········· |
| To blase the last, and swore devoutly then: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The first thus macht, were scarcely Gentlemen. | 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.