Sonnet 24
Rich fooles there there be, whose base and filthie hart,Lyes hatching still the goods wherein they flow:And damning their owne selves to Tantal’s smart,Welth breeding want, more rich, more wretched grow.Yet to those fooles, heaven doth such wit impart,As what their hands doe hold, their heads doe know.And knowing love, and loving lay apart,As scattered things, farre from all dangers show.But that rich foole, who by blind Fortunes lot,The richest gem of love and life enjoyes,And can with foule abuse such beauties blot:Let him deprived of sweet, but unfelt joyesExilde for aye, from those high treasures whichHe knowes not grow, in onely follie rich.
Words in this poem
- damning a.
- That damns; damnable; as, damning evidence of guilt.
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 24 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 24, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-24.html, id L04780.
Form and metre
Sonnet 24 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABABABCDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 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 ABABABABCDCDEE hartA · flowB · smartA · growB · impartA · knowB · apartA · showB · lotC · enjoyesD · blotC · joyesD · whichE · richE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rich fooles there there be, whose base and filthie hart, | 11 | ··········· |
| Lyes hatching still the goods wherein they flow: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And damning their owne selves to Tantal’s smart, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Welth breeding want, more rich, more wretched grow. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Yet to those fooles, heaven doth such wit impart, | 10 | ····/···˘/ |
| As what their hands doe hold, their heads doe know. | 10 | ·········· |
| And knowing love, and loving lay apart, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| As scattered things, farre from all dangers show. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But that rich foole, who by blind Fortunes lot, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The richest gem of love and life enjoyes, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And can with foule abuse such beauties blot: | 11 | ···/˘˘/·/˘· |
| Let him deprived of sweet, but unfelt joyes | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Exilde for aye, from those high treasures which | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He knowes not grow, in onely follie rich. | 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.