Sonnet 89
Stella, thinke not that I by verse seeke fame,Who seeke, who hope, who love, who like, but thee:Thine eyes my pride, thy lips my historie,If thou praise not, all other praise is shame.Nor so ambitious am I, as to frameA nest for my yong praise in Lawrell tree,In trueth I sweare, I wish not there should begraved in my Epitaph a Poets name.Nor if I would could I just title makeThat anie laud thereof to me should groweWithout my Plumes from others wings I take;For nothing from my wit or will doth flowe:Since all my words thy beautie doth indite,And Love doth hold my hand, and makes me write.
Words in this poem
- indite v. t.
- To compose; to write; to be author of; to dictate; to prompt. [OE. enditen to indite, indict, OF. enditer to indicate, show, dictate, write, inform, and endicter to accuse; both fr. LL. indictare to show, to accuse, fr. L. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 89 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 89, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-89.html, id L04845.
Form and metre
Sonnet 89 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 AB-AABBACDCDEE fameA · theeB · historie · shameA · frameA · treeB · beB · nameA · makeC · groweD · takeC · floweD · inditeE · writeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stella, thinke not that I by verse seeke fame, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Who seeke, who hope, who love, who like, but thee: | 10 | ·········· |
| Thine eyes my pride, thy lips my historie, | 10 | ·········· |
| If thou praise not, all other praise is shame. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Nor so ambitious am I, as to frame | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| A nest for my yong praise in Lawrell tree, | 10 | ·········· |
| In trueth I sweare, I wish not there should be | 10 | ·········· |
| graved in my Epitaph a Poets name. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor if I would could I just title make | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That anie laud thereof to me should growe | 10 | ·········· |
| Without my Plumes from others wings I take; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For nothing from my wit or will doth flowe: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Since all my words thy beautie doth indite, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And Love doth hold my hand, and makes me write. | 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.