Sonnet 79
Sweet swelling lip well maiest thou swell in prideSince best wittes thinke it witt thee to admire,Natures praise, vertues stall, Cupids colde fire,Whence words, not words but heavenly graces slide,The newe Pernassus where the Muses byde:Sweeteness of Musicke, Wisomes beautifier,Breather of life, and fastner of desire,Where Beauties blush in Honors graine is dyde.Thus much my hart compeld my mouth to say:But now, spite of my heart my tongue will stay,Loathing al lyes, doubting this flatterieis,And no spurre can this restie race renewe;Without how farre this praise is short of you,Sweete lipp you teach my mouth with one sweete kisse.
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]
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- beautifier n.
- One who, or that which, beautifies or makes beautiful.
- breather n.
- One who breathes. Hence: (a) One who lives.(b) One who utters. (c) One who animates or inspires.
- spurre n.
- An implement secured to the heel, or above the heel, of a horseman, to urge the horse by its pressure. Modern spurs have a small wheel, or rowel, with short points. Spurs were the badge of knighthood. [OE. spure, AS. spura, spora; akin to D. spoor, G. sporn, OHG. sporo, Icel. spori, Dan. spore, Sw. sporre, and to AS. spor a trace, footstep, spyrian to trace, t]
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- lipp v. t.
- To clip; to trim. Holland.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 79 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 79, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-79.html, id L04835.
Form and metre
Sonnet 79 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 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAACCADD-EE- prideA · admireB · fireB · slideA · bydeA · beautifierC · desireC · dydeA · sayD · stayD · flatterieis · reneweE · youE · kisse
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet swelling lip well maiest thou swell in pride | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Since best wittes thinke it witt thee to admire, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Natures praise, vertues stall, Cupids colde fire, | 10 | /˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Whence words, not words but heavenly graces slide, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The newe Pernassus where the Muses byde: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sweeteness of Musicke, Wisomes beautifier, | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| Breather of life, and fastner of desire, | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| Where Beauties blush in Honors graine is dyde. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Thus much my hart compeld my mouth to say: | 10 | ·········· |
| But now, spite of my heart my tongue will stay, | 10 | ·········· |
| Loathing al lyes, doubting this flatterieis, | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| And no spurre can this restie race renewe; | 10 | ·········· |
| Without how farre this praise is short of you, | 10 | ·········· |
| Sweete lipp you teach my mouth with one sweete kisse. | 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.