Sonnet 36
Stella, whence doth these newe assaults arise,A conquerd, yeelding, ransackt hart to win?Whereto long since, through my long battred eyes,Whole Armies of thy beauties entred in,And there long since, Love thy Lieuetenant lyes,My forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d withinOf conquest, what do these effects suffise,But wilt new warre uppon thine owne begin,With so sweet voyce, and by sweet nature so,In sweetest strength, so sweetly skild withall,In all sweet stratagems sweet Art can shew:That not my soule which at thy foot did fallLong since forst by thy beames; but stone nor treeBy sences priviledge can scape from thee.
Words in this poem
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- withall adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 36 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 36, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-36.html, id L04792.
Form and metre
Sonnet 36 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 ABABABAB-C-CDD ariseA · winB · eyesA · inB · lyesA · withinB · suffiseA · beginB · so · withallC · shew · fallC · treeD · theeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stella, whence doth these newe assaults arise, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘/ |
| A conquerd, yeelding, ransackt hart to win? | 10 | ·········· |
| Whereto long since, through my long battred eyes, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Whole Armies of thy beauties entred in, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And there long since, Love thy Lieuetenant lyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| My forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d within | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of conquest, what do these effects suffise, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| But wilt new warre uppon thine owne begin, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With so sweet voyce, and by sweet nature so, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In sweetest strength, so sweetly skild withall, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In all sweet stratagems sweet Art can shew: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| That not my soule which at thy foot did fall | 10 | ·········· |
| Long since forst by thy beames; but stone nor tree | 10 | ·········· |
| By sences priviledge can scape from thee. | 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.