Sonnet 43
My words I know doe well set forth my minde,My minde bemones his sence of inward smart;Such smart may pittie claime of any hart;Her hart, sweete hart, is of no Tygers kinde,And yet she heares, and I no pittie finde,But more I cry, lesse grace she doth impart;Alas, what cause is there so overthwart,That Noblenes it selfe makes thus unkinde?I much doe gesse, yet finde no truth save this,That when the breath of my complaint doe touchThose daintie doores unto the Court of Blisse,The heavenly nature of that place is such:That once come there, the sobs of my annoyes,Are metamorphos’d straight to tunes of joyes.
Words in this poem
- overthwart a.
- Having a transverse position; placed or situated across; hence, opposite.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 43 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 43, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-43.html, id L04799.
Form and metre
Sonnet 43 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 mindeA · smartB · hartB · kindeA · findeA · impartB · overthwartB · unkindeA · this · touchC · blisse · suchC · annoyesD · joyesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My words I know doe well set forth my minde, | 10 | ·········· |
| My minde bemones his sence of inward smart; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Such smart may pittie claime of any hart; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her hart, sweete hart, is of no Tygers kinde, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And yet she heares, and I no pittie finde, | 10 | ·········· |
| But more I cry, lesse grace she doth impart; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Alas, what cause is there so overthwart, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘˘ |
| That Noblenes it selfe makes thus unkinde? | 9 | ········· |
| I much doe gesse, yet finde no truth save this, | 10 | ·········· |
| That when the breath of my complaint doe touch | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Those daintie doores unto the Court of Blisse, | 10 | ·········· |
| The heavenly nature of that place is such: | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| That once come there, the sobs of my annoyes, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Are metamorphos’d straight to tunes of joyes. | 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.