Sonnet 71
Desire, though thou mine olde companion art,And oft so clinges to my pure Love, that IOne from the other scarcely can discry:While each doth blowe the fier of my hart:Now from thy fellowship I needs must part.Venus is taught with Dians wings to flye,I must no more in thy sweete passions lie,Vertues golde now, must head my Cupids dart,Service and honour wonder with delight,Feare to offend, well worthie to appeare:Care shining in mine eyes, faith in my spright,These things are left me by my onely deare.But thou Desire, because thou wouldst have all:Now banisht art, yet alas how shall?
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- golde n.
- An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- spright n.
- Spirit; mind; soul; state of mind; mood. [See Sprite.]
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- 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 71 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 71, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-71.html, id L04827.
Form and metre
Sonnet 71 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 7% 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-- artA · iB · discryB · hartA · partA · flyeB · lieB · dartA · delightC · appeareD · sprightC · deareD · all · shall
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Desire, though thou mine olde companion art, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| And oft so clinges to my pure Love, that I | 10 | ·········· |
| One from the other scarcely can discry: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| While each doth blowe the fier of my hart: | 9 | ········· |
| Now from thy fellowship I needs must part. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Venus is taught with Dians wings to flye, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| I must no more in thy sweete passions lie, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Vertues golde now, must head my Cupids dart, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Service and honour wonder with delight, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Feare to offend, well worthie to appeare: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Care shining in mine eyes, faith in my spright, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| These things are left me by my onely deare. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But thou Desire, because thou wouldst have all: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Now banisht art, yet alas how shall? | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
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.