Sonnet 27
Because I oft in darke abstracted guise,Seeme most alone in greatest company,With dearth of words, and aunswers quite awry,To them that would make speech of speech arise;They deeme, and of their doome the rumor flies,That poyson foule of bubling pride doth lieSo in my swelling brest, that onely IFaune on my selfe, all others doe dispise:Yet pride (I thinke) doth not my soule possesse,(Which lookes too oft in this unflattering glasse)But one worse fault, ambition I confesse,That makes me oft my best freends over-passe,Unseene unheard, while thought to highest placeBends all his powers, even unto Stellas grace.
Words in this poem
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 27 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 27, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-27.html, id L04783.
Form and metre
Sonnet 27 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 A-BAABBAA-A-CC guiseA · company · awryB · ariseA · fliesA · lieB · iB · dispiseA · possesseA · glasse · confesseA · passe · placeC · graceC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Because I oft in darke abstracted guise, | 10 | ······/·˘· |
| Seeme most alone in greatest company, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| With dearth of words, and aunswers quite awry, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To them that would make speech of speech arise; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They deeme, and of their doome the rumor flies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That poyson foule of bubling pride doth lie | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| So in my swelling brest, that onely I | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Faune on my selfe, all others doe dispise: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet pride (I thinke) doth not my soule possesse, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| (Which lookes too oft in this unflattering glasse) | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| But one worse fault, ambition I confesse, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That makes me oft my best freends over-passe, | 10 | ·········/ |
| Unseene unheard, while thought to highest place | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Bends all his powers, even unto Stellas grace. | 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.