Sonnet 59
When my good Angell guides me to the placewhere al my good I do in Stella see,That Heaven of joyes throwes only downe on meThundred disdaines, and Lightning of disgrace;But when the ruggedst step of fortunes raceMakes me fall from her sight, then sweetly sheWith words, whereing the Muses Treasures be,Shewes love and pittie to my absent case.Now I (witt-beaten long, by hardest fate)So dull am, that I cannot looke intoThe ground of this fierce love, and loving hate?Then some good body tell me how to do,Whose presence absence, absence presence is:Blest in my curse, and curssed in my blisse.
Words in this poem
- witt v. t.
- To know; to learn. [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. wat, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wiz]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 59 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 59, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-59.html, id L04815.
Form and metre
Sonnet 59 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% 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 ABBAABBACDCD-- placeA · seeB · meB · disgraceA · raceA · sheB · beB · caseA · fateC · intoD · hateC · doD · is · blisse
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When my good Angell guides me to the place | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| where al my good I do in Stella see, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That Heaven of joyes throwes only downe on me | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Thundred disdaines, and Lightning of disgrace; | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| But when the ruggedst step of fortunes race | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Makes me fall from her sight, then sweetly she | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With words, whereing the Muses Treasures be, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Shewes love and pittie to my absent case. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Now I (witt-beaten long, by hardest fate) | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So dull am, that I cannot looke into | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The ground of this fierce love, and loving hate? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then some good body tell me how to do, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose presence absence, absence presence is: | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Blest in my curse, and curssed in my blisse. | 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.