Analysis of Sonnet 45: Stella Oft Sees

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



Stella oft sees the very face of woe
Painted in my beclouded stormy face:
But cannot skill to pity my disgrace,
Not though thereof the cause herself she know:

Yet hearing late a fable, which did show
Of lovers never known, a grievous case,
Pity thereof gat in her breast such place
That, from that sea deriv'd, tears' spring did flow.

Alas, if fancy drawn by imag'd things,
Though false, yet with free scope more grace doth breed
Than servant's wrack, where new doubts honor brings;

Then think, my dear, that you in me do read
Of lovers' ruin some sad tragedy:
I am not I, pity the tale of me.


Scheme ABBA ABBA CXC XDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010111 10011101 1101110101 111010111 1101010111 1101010101 101100111 1111011111 011101111 1111111111 111111101 1111110111 1101011100 1111100111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 601
Words 113
Sentences 3
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
42

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…

All Sir Philip Sidney poems | Sir Philip Sidney Books

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