Analysis of Sonnet 80: Sweet Swelling Lip

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



Sweet swelling lip, well may'st thou swell in pride,
Since best wits think it wit thee to admire;
Nature's praise, Virtue's stall, Cupid's cold fire,
Whence words, not words but heav'nly graces, slide;

The new Parnassus, where the Muses bide,
Sweet'ner of music, wisdom's baeautifier:
Breather of life, and fast'ner of desire,
Where Beauty's blush in Honor's grain is dyed.

Thus much my heart compell'd my mouth to say,
But now, spite of my heart, my mouth will stay,
Loathing all lies, doubting this flattery is:

And no spur can his resty race renew,
Without how far this praise is short of you,
Sweet lip, you teach my mouth with one sweet kiss.


Scheme ABCA ABCA DDX EEX
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111101 1111111101 101111110 111111101 011010101 111011 1011011010 111010111 1111011111 1111111111 10111011001 011111101 0111111111 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 655
Words 115
Sentences 3
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 125
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
113

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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