Sonnet 23
The curious wits, seeing dull pensivenesBewray it selfe in my long setled eyes:Whence those same fumes of mellancholie rise,With idle paines and missing ayme do gesse;Some that know how, my spring I did adresse,Deem’d that my Muse some fruite of knowledge plyes:Others, because the Prince my service tryes,Thinke that I thinke, State errors to redresse;But harder Judges, judge ambitious rage,(Scourge of it selfe, still clyming slippery place)Holds my young braine captiv’d in golden cage.O fooles, or over-wise, alas the case;Of all my thoughts have neither stop nor start,But onely Stellas eyes, and Stellas hart.
Words in this poem
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- bewray v. t.
- To expose; to reveal; to disclose; to betray. [OE. bewraien, biwreyen; pref. be- + AS. wr to accuse, betray; akin to OS. wr, OHG. ruog, G. rügen, Icel. rægja, Goth. wr to accuse.]
- ayme n.
- The utterance of the ejaculation [Cf. F. ahi interj.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 23 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 23, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-23.html, id L04779.
Form and metre
Sonnet 23 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 -AABBAABCDCDEE pensivenes · eyesA · riseA · gesseB · adresseB · plyesA · tryesA · redresseB · rageC · placeD · cageC · caseD · startE · hartE
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 curious wits, seeing dull pensivenes | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Bewray it selfe in my long setled eyes: | 10 | ˘/······˘· |
| Whence those same fumes of mellancholie rise, | 10 | ·········· |
| With idle paines and missing ayme do gesse; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘·· |
| Some that know how, my spring I did adresse, | 10 | ·········· |
| Deem’d that my Muse some fruite of knowledge plyes: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Others, because the Prince my service tryes, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Thinke that I thinke, State errors to redresse; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But harder Judges, judge ambitious rage, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| (Scourge of it selfe, still clyming slippery place) | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Holds my young braine captiv’d in golden cage. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O fooles, or over-wise, alas the case; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Of all my thoughts have neither stop nor start, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But onely Stellas eyes, and Stellas hart. | 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.