Analysis of Sonnet LXXXI

Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)



Fayre is my loue, when her fayre golden heares,
with the loose wynd ye wauing chance to marke:
fayre when the rose in her red cheekes appeares,
or in her eyes the fyre of loue does sparke.
Fayre when her brest lyke a rich laden barke,
with pretious merchandize she forth doth lay:
fayre whe[n] that cloud of pryde, which oft doth dark
her goodly light with smiles she driues away.
But fayrest she, when so she doth display,
the gate with pearles and rubyes richly dight:
throgh which her words so wise do make their way
to beare the message of her gentle spright,
The rest be works of natures wonderment,
but this the worke of harts astonishment.


Scheme ABABBCBCCDCDDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101101 101111111 110100111 1001011111 1101101101 1111111 1111111111 0101111101 111111101 011101101 1101111111 1101010101 0111110100 1101110100
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 641
Words 121
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 513
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

36 sec read
195

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. more…

All Edmund Spenser poems | Edmund Spenser Books

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