Sonnet 70
Who will in fayrest booke of nature know,How Vertue may best lodgde in Beautie bee,Let him but learne of love to read in theeStella those faire lines which true goodnes showe.There shall he finde all vices overthrowe:Not by rude force, but sweetest soveraigntieOf reason, from whose light, the night birdes flie,That inward Sunne in thine eyes shineth so.And not content to be perfections heir,Thy selfe doth strive all mindes that way to move:Who marke in thee what is in deede most faire,So while thy beautie drives my hart to love,As fast thy vertue bends that love to good:But ah, Desire still cryes, give me some food.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 70 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 70, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-70.html, id L04826.
Form and metre
Sonnet 70 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% 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 ABBAACCADEDE-- knowA · beeB · theeB · showeA · overthroweA · soveraigntieC · flieC · soA · heirD · moveE · faireD · loveE · good · food
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who will in fayrest booke of nature know, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How Vertue may best lodgde in Beautie bee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Let him but learne of love to read in thee | 10 | ·········· |
| Stella those faire lines which true goodnes showe. | 9 | /˘······· |
| There shall he finde all vices overthrowe: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Not by rude force, but sweetest soveraigntie | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Of reason, from whose light, the night birdes flie, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That inward Sunne in thine eyes shineth so. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And not content to be perfections heir, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Thy selfe doth strive all mindes that way to move: | 10 | ·········· |
| Who marke in thee what is in deede most faire, | 10 | ·········· |
| So while thy beautie drives my hart to love, | 10 | ·········· |
| As fast thy vertue bends that love to good: | 10 | ·········· |
| But ah, Desire still cryes, give me some food. | 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.