Sonnet 54
Fie schoole of Patience, fie, your Lesson isFar far too long, to learne it without booke:What, a whole weeke, without one peece of looke?And thinke I should not your large precepts misse,When I might reade those Letters faire of blisse,Which in her face teach vertue, I could brooke,Somewhat thy leaden counsels which I tooke:As of a freend that meant not much amisse:But now alas, that I doe want her sight,What doost thou thinke that I can ever take,In thy colde stuffe, a phlegmatick delight?No Patience, if thou wilt my good, then makeHer come, and heare with patience my desiresAnd then with patience bid me beare my fire.
About this text
Sonnet 54 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 54, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-54.html, id L04810.
Form and metre
Sonnet 54 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 -AABBAABCDCD-- is · bookeA · lookeA · misseB · blisseB · brookeA · tookeA · amisseB · sightC · takeD · delightC · makeD · desires · fire
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fie schoole of Patience, fie, your Lesson is | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Far far too long, to learne it without booke: | 10 | ·········· |
| What, a whole weeke, without one peece of looke? | 10 | ·········· |
| And thinke I should not your large precepts misse, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| When I might reade those Letters faire of blisse, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Which in her face teach vertue, I could brooke, | 10 | ·········· |
| Somewhat thy leaden counsels which I tooke: | 10 | //·/˘/˘··· |
| As of a freend that meant not much amisse: | 10 | ········/˘ |
| But now alas, that I doe want her sight, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| What doost thou thinke that I can ever take, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In thy colde stuffe, a phlegmatick delight? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| No Patience, if thou wilt my good, then make | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Her come, and heare with patience my desires | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| And then with patience bid me beare my fire. | 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.