Silence. A Sonnet
Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)
Peace my hearts blab, be ever dumb,
Sorrowes speak loud without a tongue:
And my perplexed thoughts forbear
To breath your selves in any ear:
Tis scarce a true or manly grief
Which gaddes abroad to find relief.
Was ever stomack that lackt meat
Nourisht by what another eat?
Can I bestow it, or will woe
Forsake me when I bid it goe?
Then Ile believe a wounded breast
May heal by shrift, and purchase rest.
But if imparting it I do
Not ease my self, but trouble two,
'Tis better I alone possess
My treasure of unhappiness:
Engrossing that which is my own
No longer then it is unknown.
If silence be a kind of death,
He kindles grief who gives it breath;
But let it rak't in embers lye,
On thine own hearth 'twill quickly dye;
And spight of fate, that very wombe
Which carries it, shall prove its tombe.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 35 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIJKKLLMMAA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 809 |
Words | 154 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
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"Silence. A Sonnet" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/17654/silence.-a-sonnet>.
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