Analysis of Sonnet 121:Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed
William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)
'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being;
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed
Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing:
For why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own:
I may be straight though they themselves be bevel;
By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown;
Unless this general evil they maintain,
All men are bad and in their badness reign.
Scheme | ABABCDCEFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111101 11110101110 0011011111 111010111010 1111010101 111111 111101111 1011111111 11111101110 1101010111 11111101110 1111111111 01110010101 1111001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 606 |
Words | 117 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 478 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 115 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 162 Views
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"Sonnet 121:Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41420/sonnet-121%3Atis-better-to-be-vile-than-vile-esteemed>.
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