Analysis of Sonnet XLIII

Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)



SHall I then silent be or shall I speake?
And if I speake, her wrath renew I shall:
and if I silent be, my hart will breake,
or choked be with ouerflowing gall.
What tyranny is this both my hart to thrall,
and eke my toung with proud restraint to tie?
that nether I may speake nor thinke at all,
but like a stupid stock in silence die.
Yet I my hart with silence secretly
will teach to speak, and my iust cause to plead:
and eke mine eies with meeke humility,
loue learned letters to her eyes to read.
Which her deep wit, that true harts thought can spel,
wil soone conceiue, and learne to construe well.


Scheme ABACCDCDEFEGBH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 0111010111 0111011111 111111 11001111111 0111110111 1101111111 1101010101 1111110100 1111011111 0111110100 111010111 1011111111 111011011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 599
Words 120
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 469
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
117

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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