Analysis of Sonnet 152: In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn

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



In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,
But thou art twice forsworn to me love swearing:
In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn
In vowing new hate after new love bearing.
But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee,
When I break twenty? I am perjured most,
For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee,
And all my honest faith in thee is lost.
For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,
And to enlighten thee gave eyes to blindness,
Or made them swear against the thing they see.
    For I have sworn thee fair. More perjured eye,
    To swear against the truth so foul a lie!


Scheme ABABCDCEFCFCGG
Poetic Form
Metre 0101111111 1111111110 0111110111 01011101110 11111111011 1111011101 11111111011 0111010111 11111111110 1111111100 01010111110 1111010111 1111111101 1101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 633
Words 126
Sentences 7
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) 124
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 30, 2023

38 sec read
60

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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