Analysis of Sonnet 28: How can I then return in happy plight

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



How can I then return in happy plight
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eased by night,
But day by night, and night by day oppressed?
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him, thou art bright
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven;
So flatter I the swart-complexioned night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even.
    But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
    And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.


Scheme ABABCDCDAEAFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010101 111010011 1101011111 1111011101 011100111 1001111101 0111010101 1111110111 1101111111 01111111010 11010111 110111111010 11110111010 01110111110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 634
Words 118
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 494
Words per stanza (avg) 116
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
83

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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