Analysis of Sonnet IX: If This Be Love

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



If this be love, to draw a weary breath,
Paint on floods, till the shore, cry to th'air,
With downward looks still reading on the earth,
The sad memorials of my love's despair.
If this be love, to war against my soul,
Lie down to wail, rise up to sigh and grieve me,
The never-resting stone of care to roll,
Still to complain my griefs, and none relieve me.
If this be love, to clothe me with dark thoughts,
Haunting untrodden paths to wail apart,
My pleasures horror, music tragic notes,
Tears in my eyes, and sorrow at my heart.
If this be love, to live a living death,
O then love I and draw this weary breath.


Scheme ABCBDEDEFGHGAA
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110101 11110111111 1101110101 01010011101 1111110111 11111111011 0101011111 11011101011 1111111111 10111101 1101010101 1011010111 1111110101 1111011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 120
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 469
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
68

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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