Analysis of Sonnet XLV

Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)



LEaue lady, in your glasse of christall clene,
Your goodly selfe for euermore to vew:
and in my selfe, my inward selfe I meane,
most liuely lyke behold your semblant trew.
Within my hart, though hardly it can shew,
thing so diuine to vew of earthly eye:
the fayre Idea of your celestiall hew,
and euery part remaines immortally:
And were it not that through your cruelty,
with sorrow dimmed and deformd it were:
the goodly ymage of your visnomy,
clearer then christall would therein appere.
But if your selfe in me ye playne will see,
remoue the cause by which your fayre beames darkned be.


Scheme ABACCDCEFGHCFF
Poetic Form
Metre 110011111 11011111 0011110111 11101111 0111110111 111111101 010101111 01111 001111110 11010110 0101111 10111011 1111011111 1011111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 585
Words 108
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 468
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
72

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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