Analysis of Sonnet XXXVII: O Why Doth Delia

Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619



O why doth Delia credit so her glass,
Gazing her beauty deign'd her by the skies,
And doth not rather look on him (alas)
Whose state best shows the force of murd'ring eyes?
The broken tops of lofty trees declare
The fury of a mercy-wanting storm;
And of what force your wounding graces are,
Upon my self you best may find the form.
Then leave your glass, and gaze your self on me,
That Mirror shows what power is in your face;
To view your form too much may danger be:
Narcissus chang'd t'a flower in such a case.
And you are chang'd, but not t'a Hyacint;
I fear your eye hath turn'd your heart to flint.


Scheme ABABCDEDFGFGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010101 1001010101 0111011101 111101111 0101110101 0101010101 0111110101 0111111101 1111011111 11011101011 1111111101 010110100101 011111101 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 612
Words 119
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 464
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
60

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian. more…

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