Analysis of Sonnet XVIII
Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)
THe rolling wheele that runneth often round,
The hardest steele in tract of time doth teare:
and drizling drops that often doe redound,
the firmest flint doth in continuance weare.
Yet cannot I with many a dropping teare,
and long intreaty soften her hard hart:
that she will once vouchsafe my plaint to heare,
or looke with pitty on my payneful smart.
But when I pleade, she bids me play my part,
and when I weep, she sayes teares are but water:
and when I sigh, she sayes I know the art,
and when I waile she turnes hir selfe to laughter.
So doe I weepe, and wayle, and pleade in vaine,
whiles she as steele and flint doth still remayne.
Scheme | ABABBCBCCDCDEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Spenserian sonnet |
Metre | 010111101 0101011111 011110101 01011001001 11011100101 01110011 111111111 11111111 1111111111 01111111110 0111111101 01111111110 1111010101 111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 634 |
Words | 123 |
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) | 121 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
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"Sonnet XVIII" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9267/sonnet-xviii>.
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