Analysis of Sonnet 77: Those Looks, Whose Beams Be Joy

Sir Philip Sidney 1554 (Penshurst, Kent) – 1586 (Zutphen)



Those looks, whose beams be joy, whose motion is delight,
That face, whose lecture shows what perfect beauty is:
That presence, which doth give dark hearts a living light:
That grace, which Venus weeps that she herself doth miss:

That hand, which without touch holds more than Atlas might:
Those lips, which make death's pay a mean price for a kiss:
That skin, skin, whose passe-praise hue scorns this poor term of white:
Those words, which do sublime the quintessence of bliss:

That voice, which makes the soul plant himself in the ears:
That conversation sweet, where such high comforts be,
As constru'd in true speech, the name of heav'n it bears,

Makes me in my best thought and quiet'st judgment see,
That in no more but these I might be fully blest:
Yet ah, my maiden Muse doth blush to tell the rest.


Scheme AXAB ABAB XCX CDD
Poetic Form
Metre 111111110101 111101101101 110111110101 111101110111 111011111101 111111011101 1111111111111 111101001011 111101101001 10101111101 101011011111 1101110101101 101111111101 111101111101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 815
Words 146
Sentences 2
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 45
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 158
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
105

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. more…

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    Lewis Carroll wrote: "You are old father William, the young man said..."
    A "and you're going to die tonight"
    B "and you seem to have lost your sight"
    C "and your hair has become very white"
    D "and your eyes have become less bright"