Sonnet 30
Whether the Turkish new Moone minded be,To fill her hornes this yeere on Christian coast,How Polands King mindes without leave of hoast,To warme with ill made fire cold Muscovie,If French can yet three parts in one agree,What now the Dutch in their full diets boast,How Holland harts, now so good Townes are lost,Trust in the shade of pleasing Orange tree.How Ulster likes of the same goldenbitt,Wherewith my Father made it once halfe tame,If in the Scottish Court be weltering yet;These questions busie wits to me do frame,I combered with good manners, aunswere doe,But know not how, for still I thinke on you.
Words in this poem
- ulster n.
- A long, loose overcoat, worn by men and women, originally made of frieze from Ulster, Ireland.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 30 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 30, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-30.html, id L04786.
Form and metre
Sonnet 30 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 ABB-ABBA-C-C-- beA · coastB · hoastB · muscovie · agreeA · boastB · lostB · treeA · goldenbitt · tameC · yet · frameC · doe · you
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whether the Turkish new Moone minded be, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To fill her hornes this yeere on Christian coast, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How Polands King mindes without leave of hoast, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To warme with ill made fire cold Muscovie, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| If French can yet three parts in one agree, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| What now the Dutch in their full diets boast, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How Holland harts, now so good Townes are lost, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Trust in the shade of pleasing Orange tree. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| How Ulster likes of the same goldenbitt, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Wherewith my Father made it once halfe tame, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| If in the Scottish Court be weltering yet; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| These questions busie wits to me do frame, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I combered with good manners, aunswere doe, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But know not how, for still I thinke on you. | 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.