The Dark Lady Sonnets (127 - 154) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDEDEFGFGHH A IJIJKLKLMNMNOO O CPCPMQMQOGOGRR O STSTUOUOOVOVBB O WXWXYZYZBOBOOO O A2B2A2B2SC2D2E2OWOWF F O ZA2ZA2SF2SG2H2I2J2I2 A2A2 A K2L2K2L2A2M2A2M2N2ON 2OA2A2 A L2OL2OOK2OK2L2O2L2O2 L2L2 A P2L2BL2ASASYA2YA2L2 A OA2OA2OQ2OQ2R2OR2OS2 T2 A U2OU2OV2E2V2E2PYPYA2 A2 O W2WV2WUQ2UOCXXVII | A |
In the old age black was not counted fair | B |
Or if it were it bore not beauty's name | C |
But now is black beauty's successive heir | B |
And beauty slandered with a bastard shame | C |
For since each hand hath put on Nature's power | D |
Fairing the foul with Art's false borrowed face | E |
Sweet beauty hath no name no holy bower | D |
But is profaned if not lives in disgrace | E |
Therefore my mistress' eyes are raven black | F |
Her eyes so suited and they mourners seem | G |
At such who not born fair no beauty lack | F |
Sland'ring creation with a false esteem | G |
Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe | H |
That every tongue says beauty should look so | H |
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CXXVIII | A |
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How oft when thou my music music play'st | I |
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds | J |
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway'st | I |
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds | J |
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap | K |
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand | L |
Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap | K |
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand | L |
To be so tickled they would change their state | M |
And situation with those dancing chips | N |
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait | M |
Making dead wood more bless'd than living lips | N |
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this | O |
Give them thy fingers me thy lips to kiss | O |
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CXXIX | O |
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The expense of spirit in a waste of shame | C |
Is lust in action and till action lust | P |
Is perjured murderous bloody full of blame | C |
Savage extreme rude cruel not to trust | P |
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight | M |
Past reason hunted and no sooner had | Q |
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait | M |
On purpose laid to make the taker mad | Q |
Mad in pursuit and in possession so | O |
Had having and in quest to have extreme | G |
A bliss in proof and proved a very woe | O |
Before a joy proposed behind a dream | G |
All this the world well knows yet none knows well | R |
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell | R |
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CXXX | O |
- | |
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun | S |
Coral is far more red than her lips red | T |
If snow be white why then her breasts are dun | S |
If hairs be wires black wires grow on her head | T |
I have seen roses damasked red and white | U |
But no such roses see I in her cheeks | O |
And in some perfumes is there more delight | U |
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks | O |
I love to hear her speak yet well I know | O |
That music hath a far more pleasing sound | V |
I grant I never saw a goddess go | O |
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground | V |
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare | B |
As any she belied with false compare | B |
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CXXXI | O |
- | |
Thou art as tyrannous so as thou art | W |
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel | X |
For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart | W |
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel | X |
Yet in good faith some say that thee behold | Y |
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan | Z |
To say they err I dare not be so bold | Y |
Although I swear it to myself alone | Z |
And to be sure that is not false I swear | B |
A thousand groans but thinking on thy face | O |
One on another's neck do witness bear | B |
Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place | O |
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds | O |
And thence this slander as I think proceeds | O |
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CXXXII | O |
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Thine eyes I love and they as pitying me | A2 |
Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain | B2 |
Have put on black and loving mourners be | A2 |
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain | B2 |
And truly not the morning sun of heaven | S |
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east | C2 |
Nor that full star that ushers in the even | D2 |
Doth half that glory to the sober west | E2 |
As those two mourning eyes become thy face | O |
O let it then as well beseem thy heart | W |
To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace | O |
And suit thy pity like in every part | W |
Then will I swear beauty herself is black | F |
And all they foul that thy complexion lack | F |
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CXXXIII | O |
- | |
Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan | Z |
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me | A2 |
Is't not enough to torture me alone | Z |
But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be | A2 |
Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken | S |
And my next self thou harder hast engrossed | F2 |
Of him myself and thee I am forsaken | S |
A torment thrice three fold thus to be crossed | G2 |
Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward | H2 |
But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail | I2 |
Whoe'er keeps me let my heart be his guard | J2 |
Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail | I2 |
And yet thou wilt for I being pent in thee | A2 |
Perforce am thine and all that is in me | A2 |
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CXXXIV | A |
- | |
So now I have confessed that he is thine | K2 |
And I my self am mortgaged to thy will | L2 |
Myself I'll forfeit so that other mine | K2 |
Thou wilt restore to be my comfort still | L2 |
But thou wilt not nor he will not be free | A2 |
For thou art covetous and he is kind | M2 |
He learned but surety like to write for me | A2 |
Under that bond that him as fast doth bind | M2 |
The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take | N2 |
Thou usurer that put'st forth all to use | O |
And sue a friend came debtor for my sake | N2 |
So him I lose through my unkind abuse | O |
Him have I lost thou hast both him and me | A2 |
He pays the whole and yet am I not free | A2 |
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CXXXV | A |
- | |
Whoever hath her wish thou hast thy Will | L2 |
And Will to boot and Will in over plus | O |
More than enough am I that vexed thee still | L2 |
To thy sweet will making addition thus | O |
Wilt thou whose will is large and spacious | O |
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine | K2 |
Shall will in others seem right gracious | O |
And in my will no fair acceptance shine | K2 |
The sea all water yet receives rain still | L2 |
And in abundance addeth to his store | O2 |
So thou being rich in Will add to thy Will | L2 |
One will of mine to make thy large will more | O2 |
Let no unkind no fair beseechers kill | L2 |
Think all but one and me in that one Will | L2 |
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CXXXVI | A |
- | |
If thy soul check thee that I come so near | P2 |
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will | L2 |
And will thy soul knows is admitted there | B |
Thus far for love my love suit sweet fulfil | L2 |
Will will fulfil the treasure of thy love | A |
Ay fill it full with wills and my will one | S |
In things of great receipt with ease we prove | A |
Among a number one is reckoned none | S |
Then in the number let me pass untold | Y |
Though in thy store's account I one must be | A2 |
For nothing hold me so it please thee hold | Y |
That nothing me a something sweet to thee | A2 |
Make but my name thy love and love that still | L2 |
And then thou lovest me for my name is 'Will ' | - |
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CXXXVII | A |
- | |
Thou blind fool Love what dost thou to mine eyes | O |
That they behold and see not what they see | A2 |
They know what beauty is see where it lies | O |
Yet what the best is take the worst to be | A2 |
If eyes corrupt by over partial looks | O |
Be anchored in the bay where all men ride | Q2 |
Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks | O |
Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied | Q2 |
Why should my heart think that a several plot | R2 |
Which my heart knows the wide world's common place | O |
Or mine eyes seeing this say this is not | R2 |
To put fair truth upon so foul a face | O |
In things right true my heart and eyes have erred | S2 |
And to this false plague are they now transferred | T2 |
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CXXXVIII | A |
- | |
When my love swears that she is made of truth | U2 |
I do believe her though I know she lies | O |
That she might think me some untutored youth | U2 |
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties | O |
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young | V2 |
Although she knows my days are past the best | E2 |
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue | V2 |
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed | E2 |
But wherefore says she not she is unjust | P |
And wherefore say not I that I am old | Y |
O love's best habit is in seeming trust | P |
And age in love loves not to have years told | Y |
Therefore I lie with her and she with me | A2 |
And in our faults by lies we flattered be | A2 |
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CXXXIX | O |
- | |
O call not me to justify the wrong | W2 |
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart | W |
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue | V2 |
Use power with power and slay me not by art | W |
Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere but in my sight | U |
Dear heart forbear to glance thine eye aside | Q2 |
What need'st thou wound with cunning when thy might | U |
Is more than my o | O |
William Shakespeare
(1)
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