Analysis of Sonnet XXXVIII: I Once May See
Samuel Daniel 1562 (Taunton) – 1619
I once may see when years shall wreck my wrong,
When golden hairs shall change to silver wire,
And those bright rays that kindle all this fire
Shall fail in force, their working not so strong;
Then Beauty, now the burden of my song,
Whose glorious blaze the world doth so admire,
Must yield up all to tyrant Time's desire;
Then fade those flowers which deckt her pride so long.
When, if she grieve to gaze her in her glass
Which then presents her winter-wither'd hue,
Go you, my verse, go tell her what she was,
For what she was she best shall find in you.
Your fiery heat lets not her glory pass,
But, Phoenix-like, shall make her live anew.
Scheme | ABBAACBADEFEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111111 11011111010 01111101110 1101110111 1101010111 11001011101 11111101010 11110110111 1111110001 1110010101 1111110111 1111111101 11001110101 1101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 650 |
Words | 123 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 499 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 121 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 35 Views
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"Sonnet XXXVIII: I Once May See" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34162/sonnet-xxxviii%3A-i-once-may-see>.
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