Analysis of Sonnet 40: Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all

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



Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
Then if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;
But yet be blamed, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thy self refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
And yet love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
    Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
    Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.


Scheme ABABCCCCDCDEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 1111111101 1111111111 1111011111 111111111 1101111111 111111111 11111111 11011100101 111111100 0111110101 1111111100 01001011111 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 639
Words 124
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 488
Words per stanza (avg) 122
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

37 sec read
75

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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