Analysis of Sonnet XXI: If Beauty Thus Be Clouded

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



If Beauty thus be clouded with a frown,
That pity shines no comfort to my bliss,
And vapors of disdain so overfrown,
That my life's light thus wholy darken'd is,
Why should I more molest the world with cries,
The air with sighs, the earth below with tears?
Since I live hateful to those ruthless eyes,
Vexing with untun'd moan her dainty ears;
If I have lov'd her dearer than my breath,
My breath that calls the heav'ns to witness it,
And still must hold her dear till after death;
And if that all this cannot move a whit,
Yet let her say that she hath done me wrong,
To use me thus and know I lov'd so long.


Scheme ABACDEDFGHGHII
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110101 1101110111 01010111 111111101 1111010111 0111010111 1111011101 101110101 1111010111 1111011101 0111011101 0111110101 1101111111 1111011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 121
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 469
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
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Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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