Analysis of Sonnet 139: O, call not me to justify the wrong
William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)
O, call not me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue;
Use power with power, and slay me not by art.
Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere, but in my sight,
Dear heart forbear to glance thine eye aside;
What need'st thou wound with cunning when thy might
Is more than my o'erpressed defence can bide?
Let me excuse thee: "Ah, my love well knows,
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies,
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries."
Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,
Kill me outright with looks and rid my pain.
Scheme | ABCBDEDEFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111001 11110111 1111111111 110110011111 111111011 111111101 11111110111 111110111 1101111111 0101111100 011111111 111111100 1111111111 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 631 |
Words | 123 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 487 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 120 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 61 Views
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"Sonnet 139: O, call not me to justify the wrong" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41438/sonnet-139%3A-o%2C-call-not-me-to-justify-the-wrong>.
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