Sonnet 80
O Kisse which doth those ruddie gemmes impart,Or Gemmes or fruits of new found Parradise,Breathing all blisse and sweetnes to the hart,Teaching dumbe lips a nobler exercise.O kisse which soules even soules together tiesBy links of Love, and onely natures Art,How faine would I paint thee to all mens eies,Or of thy gifts at least shade out some part?But shee forbids, with blushing words shee saies,Shee builds her fame on higher seated praise:But my heart burnes, I cannot silent be,Then since deare life, you faine would have me peace.And I (mad with delight) want wit to cease,Stop you my mouth with still still kissing me.
Words in this poem
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 80 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 80, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-80.html, id L04836.
Form and metre
Sonnet 80 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 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 A-ABBABACCDEED impartA · parradise · hartA · exerciseB · tiesB · artA · eiesB · partA · saiesC · praiseC · beD · peaceE · ceaseE · meD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Kisse which doth those ruddie gemmes impart, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Or Gemmes or fruits of new found Parradise, | 10 | ·········· |
| Breathing all blisse and sweetnes to the hart, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Teaching dumbe lips a nobler exercise. | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| O kisse which soules even soules together ties | 10 | ····/·˘/˘· |
| By links of Love, and onely natures Art, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| How faine would I paint thee to all mens eies, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or of thy gifts at least shade out some part? | 10 | ·········· |
| But shee forbids, with blushing words shee saies, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Shee builds her fame on higher seated praise: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| But my heart burnes, I cannot silent be, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Then since deare life, you faine would have me peace. | 10 | ·········· |
| And I (mad with delight) want wit to cease, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Stop you my mouth with still still kissing me. | 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.