Sonnet 62
Oh Grammer rules, oh now your vertues showe,So Children still read you with awfull eyes,As my young Dove may in your precepts wise,Her graunt to me by her owne vertue knowe.For late with hart most hie, with eyes most lowe;I crav’d the thing which ever she denies.Shee lightning Love, displaying Venus skyes,Least one should not be heard twise, said no no.Sing then my Muse, now I do Pæan sing.Heavens Envy not at my high triumphing:But Grammers force with sweete successe confirme,For Grammer sayes (ah this deere Stella way)For Grammer sayes (to Grammer who sayes nay)That in one speech, two negatives affirme.
Words in this poem
- awfull a.
- Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.
- triumphing a.
- Having or celebrating a triumph; victorious; triumphant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 62 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 62, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-62.html, id L04818.
Form and metre
Sonnet 62 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 97% 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.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACCDEED showeA · eyesB · wiseB · knoweA · loweA · deniesB · skyesB · noA · singC · triumphingC · confirmeD · wayE · nayE · affirmeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh Grammer rules, oh now your vertues showe, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| So Children still read you with awfull eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As my young Dove may in your precepts wise, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Her graunt to me by her owne vertue knowe. | 10 | ·········· |
| For late with hart most hie, with eyes most lowe; | 10 | ·········· |
| I crav’d the thing which ever she denies. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Shee lightning Love, displaying Venus skyes, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Least one should not be heard twise, said no no. | 10 | ·········· |
| Sing then my Muse, now I do Pæan sing. | 9 | ········· |
| Heavens Envy not at my high triumphing: | 11 | /˘/˘····/˘˘ |
| But Grammers force with sweete successe confirme, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For Grammer sayes (ah this deere Stella way) | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| For Grammer sayes (to Grammer who sayes nay) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That in one speech, two negatives affirme. | 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.