Analysis of Sonnet XI: Tears, Vows, and Prayers

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



Tears, vows, and prayers win the hardest heart:
Tears, vows, and prayers have I spent in vain;
Tears cannot soften flint, nor vows convert;
Prayers prevail not with a quaint disdain.
I lose my tears where I have lost my love;
I vow my faith where faith is not regarded;
I pray in vain a merciless to move;
So rare a faith ought better be rewarded.
Yet though I cannot win her will with tears,
Though my soul's idol scorneth all my vows,
Though all my prayers be to so deaf ears,
No favor though the cruel Fair allows.
Yet will I weep, vow, pray to cruel she;
Flint, frost, disdain wears, melts, and yields we see.


Scheme ABCBDEFGHIJIKK
Poetic Form
Metre 110110101 110111101 1101011110 101110101 1111111111 11111111010 1101010011 11011101010 1111010111 111101111 111111111 1101010101 1111111101 1101110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 119
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 471
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
97

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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    "Sonnet XI: Tears, Vows, and Prayers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34124/sonnet-xi%3A-tears%2C-vows%2C-and-prayers>.

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    Sonnets were first introduced to England by?
    A William Shakespeare
    B Sir Thomas Wyatt
    C William Wordsworth
    D Petrarch