Sonnet 48
I on my horse, and Love on me doth trieOur horsmanship, while by strange worke I prove,A horsman to my horse, a horse to Love;And now mans wrongs in me poore beast discry.The raines wherewith my ryder doth me tieAre reverent thoughts, which bit of reverence move,Curbde in with feare, but with gilt bosse aboveOf hope, which makes it seeme faire to the eye:The wande is will, thou fancie saddle art,Girt fast by memorie; and while I spurreMy horse, he spurres with sharpe desires my hart,He sits me fast how ever I doe sturre,And now hath made me to his hand so right,That in the manage, my selfe do take delight.
Words in this poem
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- ryder n.
- A clause added to a document; a rider. See Rider.
- bosse n.
- A genus of ruminant quadrupeds, including the wild and domestic cattle, distinguished by a stout body, hollow horns, and a large fold of skin hanging from the neck. [L., ox, cow.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- spurre n.
- An implement secured to the heel, or above the heel, of a horseman, to urge the horse by its pressure. Modern spurs have a small wheel, or rowel, with short points. Spurs were the badge of knighthood. [OE. spure, AS. spura, spora; akin to D. spoor, G. sporn, OHG. sporo, Icel. spori, Dan. spore, Sw. sporre, and to AS. spor a trace, footstep, spyrian to trace, t]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 48 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 48, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-48.html, id L04804.
Form and metre
Sonnet 48 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCAABCADEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% 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 ABCAABCADEDEFF trieA · proveB · loveC · discryA · tieA · moveB · aboveC · eyeA · artD · spurreE · hartD · sturreE · rightF · delightF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I on my horse, and Love on me doth trie | 10 | ·········· |
| Our horsmanship, while by strange worke I prove, | 10 | /········· |
| A horsman to my horse, a horse to Love; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And now mans wrongs in me poore beast discry. | 10 | ·········· |
| The raines wherewith my ryder doth me tie | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Are reverent thoughts, which bit of reverence move, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Curbde in with feare, but with gilt bosse above | 10 | ·········· |
| Of hope, which makes it seeme faire to the eye: | 10 | ·········· |
| The wande is will, thou fancie saddle art, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Girt fast by memorie; and while I spurre | 10 | ·········· |
| My horse, he spurres with sharpe desires my hart, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| He sits me fast how ever I doe sturre, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And now hath made me to his hand so right, | 10 | ·········· |
| That in the manage, my selfe do take delight. | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
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.