Analysis of Sonnet 118: Like as to make our appetite more keen

William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)



Like as to make our appetite more keen
With eager compounds we our palate urge,
As to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge.
Even so being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness
To be diseased ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love t' anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assured,
And brought to medicine a healthful state
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cured.
    But thence I learn and find the lesson true:
    Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet  (93%)
Metre 1111101011 11010110101 11011010001 1101110111 1011011111010 11010111110 011110111 11011111110 1100011010 0110111101 0111000101 1111011111 1111010101 1101111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 607
Words 114
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 475
Words per stanza (avg) 112
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

34 sec read
139

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". more…

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