Analysis of Sonnet 131: Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art

William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)



Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;
To say they err I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to myself alone.
And to be sure that is not false I swear,
A thousand groans but thinking on thy face,
One on another's neck do witness bear
Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place.
    In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
    And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 11111111 11110101110 11111111101 11010011010 1011111101 11110101111 1111111111 11111101 0111111111 0101110111 1101011101 111100111 0101111011 0111011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 613
Words 121
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 473
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
69

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". more…

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