Analysis of Sonnet XXXVI

Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)



TEll me when shall these wearie woes haue end,
Or shall their ruthlesse torment neuer cease:
but al my dayes in pining languor spend,
without hope of aswagement or release.
Is there no meanes for me to purchace peace,
or make agreement with her thrilling eyes:
but that their cruelty doth still increace,
and dayly more augment my miseryes.
But when ye haue shewed all extremityes,
then thinke how litle glory ye haue gayned:
by slaying him, whose lyfe though ye despyse,
mote haue your life in honour long maintayned.
But by his death which some perhaps will mone,
ye shall condemned be of many a one.


Scheme ABABBCBBBABADE
Poetic Form
Metre 111111111 11111101 111101011 01111101 111111111 1101010101 11110111 0110111 1111111 1111010111 110111111 11110111 1111110111 1101111001
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 597
Words 109
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 481
Words per stanza (avg) 107
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
104

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. more…

All Edmund Spenser poems | Edmund Spenser Books

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