Sonnet 119
Sonnet 119 | |||||||
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Sonnet 119 is one of
Structure
Sonnet 119 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 3rd line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× /× / × / × / × / Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears, (119.3)
An unusual number of lines (5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12) feature a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending, as for example:
/ × × / / × × / × / (×) How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted, (119.7)
- / = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus. (×) = extrametrical syllable.
Line 7 (above) also features an initial reversal, and potentially a mid-line reversal. Other potential initial reversals occur in lines 6, 8, and 13, while potential mid-line reversals occur in lines 9 and 11.
The meter demands that line 6's "blessèd" is pronounced as two syllables.[2]
Interpretations
- Richard Hammond, for the 2002 compilation album, When Love Speaks (EMI)
Notes
- OCLC 4770201.
- ^ Kerrigan 1995, p. 136.
References
- First edition and facsimile
- Shakespeare, William (1609). Shake-speares Sonnets: Never Before Imprinted. London: Thomas Thorpe.
- OCLC 458829162.
- Variorum editions
- OCLC 234756.
- Modern critical editions
- Atkins, Carl D., ed. (2007). Shakespeare's Sonnets: With Three Hundred Years of Commentary. Madison: OCLC 86090499.
- OCLC 2968040.
- Burrow, Colin, ed. (2002). The Complete Sonnets and Poems. OCLC 48532938.
- OCLC 32272082.
- OCLC 15018446.
- Mowat, Barbara A.; Werstine, Paul, eds. (2006). Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems. OCLC 64594469.
- OCLC 46683809.
- OCLC 36806589.