Analysis of Sonnet 54: O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumèd tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their maskèd buds discloses;
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwooed and unrespected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made.
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall vade, by verse distills your truth.
Scheme | ABABCDEDFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111011 1111001111 0111110111 111111011 0101111101 1011101010 1111011100 11011111010 1111010111 111011 1101110111 111111011 011110101 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 621 |
Words | 114 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 485 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 112 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 177 Views
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"Sonnet 54: O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41503/sonnet-54%3A-o%2C-how-much-more-doth-beauty-beauteous-seem>.
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