Sonnet 28
You that with allegories curious frameOf others children changelings use to make,With mee those paines for good now doe not take,I list not dig so deepe for brasen fame.When I see Stella, I doe meane the samePrincesse of beautie, for whose onely sake,The raynes of love I love, though never slake;And joy therein, though Nations count it shame:I begge no subject to use eloquence,Nor in hid waies to guide Philosophie,Looke at my hands for no such quintessence,But know that I in pure simplicitie,Breath out the flames which burn within my hart,Love only leading me into this arte.
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.]
- princesse a.
- A term applied to a lady's long, close-fitting dress made with waist and skirt in one. [F., a princess.]
- begge n.
- A title of honor in Turkey and in some other parts of the East; a bey. [Turk. beg, pronounced bay. Cf. Bey, Begum.]
- quintessence n.
- The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. [F., fr. L. quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 28 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 28, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-28.html, id L04784.
Form and metre
Sonnet 28 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 95% 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. 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 ABBAABBA-C-CDD frameA · makeB · takeB · fameA · sameA · sakeB · slakeB · shameA · eloquence · philosophieC · quintessence · simplicitieC · hartD · arteD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You that with allegories curious frame | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of others children changelings use to make, | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| With mee those paines for good now doe not take, | 10 | ·········· |
| I list not dig so deepe for brasen fame. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When I see Stella, I doe meane the same | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Princesse of beautie, for whose onely sake, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The raynes of love I love, though never slake; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And joy therein, though Nations count it shame: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I begge no subject to use eloquence, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Nor in hid waies to guide Philosophie, | 10 | ·········· |
| Looke at my hands for no such quintessence, | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| But know that I in pure simplicitie, | 10 | ·········· |
| Breath out the flames which burn within my hart, | 10 | ·········· |
| Love only leading me into this arte. | 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.