Analysis of Sonnet XX: Fly, Fly, My Friends

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



Fly, fly, my friends, I have my death wound; fly!
See there that boy, that murthering boy I say,
Who like a thief, hid in dark bush doth lie,
Till bloody bullet get him wrongful prey.

So tyrant he no fitter place could spy,
Nor so fair level in so secret stay,
As that sweet black which veils the heav'nly eye:
There himself with his shot he close doth lay.

Poor passenger, pass now thereby I did,
And stayed pleas'd with the prospect of the place,
While that black hue from me the bad guest hid:

But straight I saw motions of lightning grace,
And then descried the glist'ring of his dart:
But ere I could fly hence, it pierc'd my heart.


Scheme ABAB ABAB CDC DEE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 111111111 1101101111 1101011101 1101110111 1111001101 111111011 1011111111 1100111111 0111010101 1111110111 1111101101 01101111 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 645
Words 124
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 123
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
83

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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