Sonnet 19
On Cupids bowe, how are my hart strings bent?That see my wracke, and yet imbrace the same:When most I glorie, then I feele most shame;I willing run, yet while I runne repent;My best wittes still their owne disgrace invent,My verie ynke, turnes straight to Stella’s name:And yet my words (as them my penne doth frame)Against themselves that they are vainely spent.For though she passe all things, yet what is allThat unto me, who fare like him that bothLookes to the skyes and in a ditch doth fall,O let me prop my mind yet in his grouthAnd not in nature, for best fruits unfit;Scholler saith Love bend hitherward your wit.
Words in this poem
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
- invent v. t.
- To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See Come.]
- penne v. t.
- To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet.
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- hitherward adv.
- Toward this place; hither. [AS. hiderweard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 19 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 19, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-19.html, id L04775.
Form and metre
Sonnet 19 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% 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 bentA · sameB · shameB · repentA · inventA · nameB · frameB · spentA · allC · bothD · fallC · grouthD · unfitE · witE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On Cupids bowe, how are my hart strings bent? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That see my wracke, and yet imbrace the same: | 10 | ·········· |
| When most I glorie, then I feele most shame; | 11 | ··········· |
| I willing run, yet while I runne repent; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| My best wittes still their owne disgrace invent, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| My verie ynke, turnes straight to Stella’s name: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And yet my words (as them my penne doth frame) | 10 | ·········· |
| Against themselves that they are vainely spent. | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| For though she passe all things, yet what is all | 11 | ····/······ |
| That unto me, who fare like him that both | 10 | ·········· |
| Lookes to the skyes and in a ditch doth fall, | 10 | ·········· |
| O let me prop my mind yet in his grouth | 10 | ·········· |
| And not in nature, for best fruits unfit; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Scholler saith Love bend hitherward your wit. | 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.