Analysis of Sonnet XXVIII: Reign In My Thoughts

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



Reign in my thoughts, fair hand, sweet eye, rare voice:
Possess me whole, my heart's triumvirate;
Yet heavy heart to make so hard a choice,
Of such as spoil thy poor afflicted stated.
For whilst they strive which shall be Lord of all,
All my poor life by them is trodden down;
They all erect their Trophies on my fall,
And yield me nought that gives them their renown.
When back I look, I sigh my freedom past,
And wail the state wherein I present stand,
And see my fortune ever like to last,
Finding me reign'd with such a heavy hand.
What can I do by yield, and yield I do,
And serve all three, and yet they spoil me too.


Scheme ABACDEDEFGFGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1011111111 0111110100 1101111101 11111101010 1111111111 1111111101 1101110111 0111111101 1111111101 0101011101 0111010111 1011110101 1111110111 0111011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 631
Words 124
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 479
Words per stanza (avg) 122
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
60

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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    A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using "like" or "as" is called a _______.
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