Analysis of Sonnet 17: Who will believe my verse in time to come

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



Who will believe my verse in time to come
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, "This poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces."
So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet's rage,
And stretchèd metre of an antique song.
    But were some child of yours alive that time,
    You should live twice, in it and in my rhyme.


Scheme ABCDEFEGHIHJKK
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110111 1101111110 11101111101 1111011111 1111010111 00110101110 0111111101 110010111010 111101111 1111111111 0111110101 0111011011 1011110111 1111010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 648
Words 127
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 500
Words per stanza (avg) 124
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

38 sec read
84

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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    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
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