Analysis of Sonnet XVII
Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)
THe glorious portraict of that Angels face,
Made to amaze weake mens confused skil:
and this worlds worthlesse glory to embase,
what pen, what pencill can expresse her fill?
For though he colours could deuize at will,
and eke his learned hand at pleasure guide:
least trembling it his wormanship should spill,
yet many wondrous things there are beside.
The sweet eye-glaunces, that like arrowes glide,
the charming smiles, that rob sence from the hart:
the louely pleasance and the lofty pride,
cannot expressed be by any art.
A greater craftesmans hand thereto doth neede,
that can expresse the life of things indeed.
Scheme | ABABBCBCCDCDCE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100111101 110111011 01111011 11111101 11111111 011111101 110011111 1101011101 01111111 0101111101 01100101 100111101 01011111 111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 613 |
Words | 105 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 498 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 103 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 31 sec read
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"Sonnet XVII" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9266/sonnet-xvii>.
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