Sonnet 152
Sonnet 152 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sonnet 152 is a sonnet by William Shakespeare. It is one of a collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality, first published in a 1609.
Synopsis
Although concluding the sequence of
Structure
Sonnet 152 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 12th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × / Or made them swear against the thing they see; (152.12)
The 2nd line has a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending:
× / × / × / × / × / (×) But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing; (152.2)
- / = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus. (×) = extrametrical syllable.
Lines 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11 also have feminine endings. Line 10 begins with a common metrical variant, an initial reversal:
/ × × / × / × / × / Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy; (152.10)
An initial reversal potentially occurs in line 11, and mid-line reversals potentially occur in lines 7 and 9.
Notes
- OCLC 4770201.
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.