Sonnet 8
Love borne in Greece, of late fled from his native place,Forst by a tedious proofe, that Turkish hardned hartWere no fit marke, to pearce with his fine pointed dart:And pleasd with our lost peace, staide here his fleeting race.But finding these North climes, too coldlie him imbrace,Not usde to frosen clippes, he strave to finde some partWhere with most ease and warmth, he might imploy his art.At length he preach’d himselfe in Stellas joyfull face,Whose faire skinne, beamie eyes, like morning Sunne on snow:Deceiv’d the quaking boy, who thought from so pure light,Effects of livelie heate must needes in nature growe.But shee most faire, most colde; made him thence take his flightTo my close hart; where while some fire brands he did lay,He burnt unwares his wings, and cannot fly away.
Words in this poem
- joyfull a.
- Full of joy; having or causing joy; very glad; as, a joyful heart.
- skinne n.
- The external membranous integument of an animal. [Icel. skinn; akin to Sw. skinn, Dan. skind, AS. scinn, G. schined to skin.]
- unwares adv.
- Unawares; unexpectedly; -- sometimes preceded by at.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 8 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 8, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-8.html, id L04764.
Form and metre
Sonnet 8 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic hexameter, 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 12.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABBAABBACDCDEE placeA · hartB · dartB · raceA · imbraceA · partB · artB · faceA · snowC · lightD · groweC · flightD · layE · awayE
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love borne in Greece, of late fled from his native place, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Forst by a tedious proofe, that Turkish hardned hart | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Were no fit marke, to pearce with his fine pointed dart: | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And pleasd with our lost peace, staide here his fleeting race. | 12 | ···/·····/˘· |
| But finding these North climes, too coldlie him imbrace, | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Not usde to frosen clippes, he strave to finde some part | 12 | ············ |
| Where with most ease and warmth, he might imploy his art. | 12 | ············ |
| At length he preach’d himselfe in Stellas joyfull face, | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
| Whose faire skinne, beamie eyes, like morning Sunne on snow: | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Deceiv’d the quaking boy, who thought from so pure light, | 12 | ˘/·/˘······· |
| Effects of livelie heate must needes in nature growe. | 13 | /˘········/˘· |
| But shee most faire, most colde; made him thence take his flight | 12 | ············ |
| To my close hart; where while some fire brands he did lay, | 12 | ·······/···· |
| He burnt unwares his wings, and cannot fly away. | 12 | ··˘/···/˘·˘/ |
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.