Sonnet 18
With what strange checkes I in my selfe am shent,When into Reasons Audit I doe goe:And by just counts my selfe a Bankerowt knowOf all those goods which heaven to me hath lent,Unable quite, to pay even Natures rent,Which unto it by birth-right I doe owe:And which is worse, no good excuse can showe,But that my wealth I have most idely spent,My youth doth waste, my knowledge brings forth toyes,My wit doth strive, those passions to defendeWhich for reward, spoyle it with vaine annoyes;I see my course, to lose my selfe doth bende.I see and yet no greater sorrowe takeThan that I looke no more for Stellas sake.
Words in this poem
- shent
- obs. 3d pers. sing. pres. of Shend, for shendeth.
- audit n.
- An audience; a hearing. [L. auditus a hearing, fr. audire. See Audible, a.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 18 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 18, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-18.html, id L04774.
Form and metre
Sonnet 18 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 21% 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 ABBAABBACDCDEE shentA · goeB · knowB · lentA · rentA · oweB · showeB · spentA · toyesC · defendeD · annoyesC · bendeD · takeE · sakeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With what strange checkes I in my selfe am shent, | 10 | ·········· |
| When into Reasons Audit I doe goe: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And by just counts my selfe a Bankerowt know | 11 | ··········· |
| Of all those goods which heaven to me hath lent, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Unable quite, to pay even Natures rent, | 10 | ˘/˘···//˘· |
| Which unto it by birth-right I doe owe: | 10 | ·········· |
| And which is worse, no good excuse can showe, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| But that my wealth I have most idely spent, | 11 | ··········· |
| My youth doth waste, my knowledge brings forth toyes, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My wit doth strive, those passions to defende | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Which for reward, spoyle it with vaine annoyes; | 11 | ··˘/·····˘/ |
| I see my course, to lose my selfe doth bende. | 10 | ·········· |
| I see and yet no greater sorrowe take | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Than that I looke no more for Stellas sake. | 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.