Sonnet 92
O Fate, ô fault, O curst child of my blisse,What sobs can give words grace my griefe to show?What inke is black enough to paint my woe?Through mee, wretch mee, even Stella vexed is:Yet Trueth, if Caitives brath might call thee this,Witnes with mee, that my fowle stumbling so,From carelesnes did in no manner growe,But wit confusd with too much care did misse.And do I then my selfe this vaine scuse give:I do sweete Love, and know this harmed thee.The world quit mee, shall I my self forgive?Onely with paines my paines thus eased be:That all thy hurtes in my hearts wracke I reedI crye thy sighs (my deare) thy teares I bleed.
Words in this poem
- curst a.
- Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [SeeCurse.]
- 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,]
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 92 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 92, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/sonnet-92.html, id L04848.
Form and metre
Sonnet 92 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 98% 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 -AA-BAABCDCDEE blisse · showA · woeA · is · thisB · soA · groweA · misseB · giveC · theeD · forgiveC · beD · reedE · bleedE
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 Fate, ô fault, O curst child of my blisse, | 9 | ········· |
| What sobs can give words grace my griefe to show? | 10 | ·········· |
| What inke is black enough to paint my woe? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Through mee, wretch mee, even Stella vexed is: | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Yet Trueth, if Caitives brath might call thee this, | 10 | ·········· |
| Witnes with mee, that my fowle stumbling so, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| From carelesnes did in no manner growe, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But wit confusd with too much care did misse. | 10 | ·········· |
| And do I then my selfe this vaine scuse give: | 10 | ·········· |
| I do sweete Love, and know this harmed thee. | 10 | ········˘· |
| The world quit mee, shall I my self forgive? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Onely with paines my paines thus eased be: | 10 | /˘······˘· |
| That all thy hurtes in my hearts wracke I reed | 10 | ·········· |
| I crye thy sighs (my deare) thy teares I bleed. | 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.