Thy self | thy foe, | to thy sweet self | too cruel: Making a fa | mine where a bun | dance lies, His ten | der heir | might bear | his me | mory:īut thou, | con trac | ted to thine own bright eyes,įeed’st thy light’s flame| with self | sub stan | tial fuel, That there | by beau | ty’s Rose | might ne | ver dieīut as | the ri | per should | by time | de cease To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.įrom fair | est crea | tures we de sire | in crease Wi thin thine own bud buriest thy con tentĪnd, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding: Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament, Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. That thereby beauty’s Rose might never dieīut thou, con tracted to thine own bright eyes,įeed’st thy light’s flamewith self sub stantial fuel,

Here’s my scansion of Shakespeare’s opening Sonnet – first without, then with, foot divisions:-įrom fairest creatures we de sire in crease Words highlighted in pink will take you to another relevant post). And here’s a link to a glossary, which you may find it useful to skim through before reading further (every word I highlight in blue will take you to the glossary if you click on it. For more detail on feet, figures and displaced beats, see my three posts on ‘Iambic Pentameter & the Principles of Metrical Variation’. Those figures in red contain displaced beats. Some feet combine with each other to form metrical figures, and I have not divided the figures into individual feet. In this post I aim to provide a careful metrical analysis of Shakespeare’s opening sonnet, and hope to illustrate how an understanding of meter can enhance our appreciation of his work.

Halo gravemind sonnet iambic pentameter