Analysis of Sonnet 34: Come Let Me Write

Sir Philip Sidney 1554 (Penshurst, Kent) – 1586 (Zutphen)



Come, let me write. 'And to what end?' To ease
A burthen'd heart. 'How can words ease, which are
The glasses of thy daily vexing care?'
Oft cruel fights well pictur'd forth do please.

'Art not asham'd to publish thy disease?'
Nay, that may breed my fame, it is so rare.
'But will not wise men think thy words fond ware?'
Then be they close, and so none shall displease.

'What idler thing than speak and not be heard?'
What harder thing than smart, and not to speak?
Peace, foolish wit, with wit my wit is marr'd.

Thus write I while I doubt to write, and wreak
My harms on ink's poor loss; perhaps some find
Stella's great powers, that so confuse my mind.


Scheme AXBA ABBA XCX CDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 011111111 0101110101 1101110111 1101110101 1111111111 1111111111 1111011101 11001110111 1101110111 1101111111 1111111101 1111110111 10110110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 662
Words 131
Sentences 14
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 123
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
101

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. more…

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