76
Why is my verse so barren of new pride?
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new found methods, and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?
O know sweet love I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent,
For as the Sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
There are a lot of trochees in Sonnet 76. Every line that starts with why also starts with a trochee. Line 5 has two trochee-iambs: “WHY write i STILL all ONE Ever the SAME.” There are only two more trochee-iambs in the Sonnet, one starting line 8 (“SHOwing their BIRTH”) and one starting line 12 (“SPENding aGAIN”). Why, why, why, ever, showing, spending. That’s why.
77
Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste,
The vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear,
And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste.
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show,
Of mouthéd graves will give thee memory,
Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know
Time’s thievish progress to eternity.
Look what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nurs’d, deliver’d from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee, and much enrich thy book.
Sonnet 77 is completely regular. There is little else in the sonnet to vary the rhythm. This gives the poem a certain simplicity, as if it were stating the obvious.
78
So oft have I invok’d thee for my Muse,
And found such fair assistance in my verse,
As every Alien pen hath got my use,
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing,
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly,
Have added feathers to the learnéd’s wings,
And given grace a double Majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine, and born of thee,
In others’ works thou dost but mend the style,
And Arts with thy sweet graces gracéd be.
But thou art all my art, and dost advance
As high as learning, my rude ignorance.
To match its subject matter, Sonnet 78 hides a complex rhythm underneath a simple meter. The sonnet is completely regular, except for the couplet. The rhythm varies with its multi-syllable words (assistance, ignorance, influence, ignorance) and midline pauses that jump all over the lines. Line 13 is regular but does not have an end-line pause, the sense running into the next line. Line 14 starts out with two iambs before it bumps into a pyrrhic-spondee: “As HIGH as LEARning my RUDE IGnorANCE.” The result is anything but crude.
79
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace,
But now my gracious numbers are decay’d,
And my sick Muse doth give another place.
I grant (sweet love) thy lovely argument
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen,
Yet what of thee thy Poet doth invent,
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word
From thy behavior, beauty doth he give
And found it in thy cheek: he can afford
No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee, thou thy self dost pay.
The meter of Sonnet 79 is perfectly regular, but the rhythm is not. The first disturbance comes in line 5 where sweet love inserts two pauses, one before the phrase and one after it. This draws attention to this line with its repeated use of a word from the same root with a different ending. (One of those favorite Elizabethan rhetorical devices, this one known as polypton.) But the real disorder starts in the third quatrain. The sense runs on at the end of each line, each without an end-line pause until the last one (see discussion in text of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Among His Private Friends). The rhythm is most disturbed, though, by the ends of those thoughts in the middle of the following lines. The pauses there are very strong. They are almost as long as a full syllable, making it difficult to read the lines smoothly. Lines 10 and 11 are especially awkward. Look at how those pauses affect their ungainliness (| signifies the length of a pause):
9: He LENDS thee VIRtue, | AND he STOLE that WORD
10: From Thy beHaVior, || BEAUty DOTH he GIVE
11: And FOUND it IN thy CHEEK: || he CAN afford
12: No PRAISE to THEE, | but WHAT in THEE doth LIVE.
This awkwardness reinforces the sense that there is something wrong going on in this sonnet.
80
O how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame.
But since your worth (wide as the Ocean is)
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark (inferior far to his)
On your broad main doth willfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride,
Or (being wrack’d) I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride.
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this, my love was my decay.
There are only two irregular lines in Sonnet 80. Both of them emphasize the ocean metaphor. Line 5 has a trochee-iamb in the middle of the line starting with the parenthetical phrase: “(WIDE as the Ocean IS).” Line 8 has a spondee in the second foot: “On YOUR BROAD MAIN.”
81
Or I shall live your Epitaph to make,
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten,
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I (once gone) to all the world must die,
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombéd in men’s eyes shall lie.
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall o’er-read,
And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse,
When all the breathers of this world are dead.
You still shall live (such virtue hath my Pen)
Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.
There are only a few departures from normal rhythm in Sonnet 81, but each has an effect on the sonnet. The feminine endings of lines 2 and 4 add a stately quality to the first quatrain. The trochee-iamb toward the end of line 3 (“DEATH cannot TAKE”) emphasizes the theme. The regular meter is unbroken until line 12’s spondee: “When ALL the BREAthers OF THIS WORLD are DEAD.” Finally, the sonnet ends with the trochee-iamb in the last line: “EV’N in the MOUTHS of MEN.” That emphatic even is doubly emphasized by the meter. It brings attention to itself. It’s not just a word to fill in the meter. It shows the power of W.’s verse that Y.M. will live in the mouths of men even after all those who are alive today are dead. Today’s breathers are breathless but future breathers will still breathe of you.
82
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,
And therefore mayst without attaint o’er-look
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise,
And therefore art enforc’d to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time bettering days.
And do so love, yet when they have devis’d
What strainéd touches Rhetoric can lend,
Thou truly fair, wert truly sympathiz’d,
In true plain words, by thy true telling friend.
And their gross painting might be better us’d
Where cheeks need blood, in thee it is abus’d.
The irregular lines in Sonnet 82 are line 6 with its initial trochee-iamb (“FINDing thy WORTH), line 8, which has the common pyrrhic-spondee pattern: “Some FREsher STAMP of the TIME BETT’Ring DAYS,.” and lines 12 and 13 with their spondees in the second feet (“In TRUE PLAIN WORDS”; “And THEIR GROSS PAINTing).Those stresses make these phrases sound annoying to me.
83
I never saw that you did painting need,
And therefore to your fair no painting set,
I found (or thought I found) you did exceed,
The barren tender of a Poet’s debt.
And therefore have I slept in your report,
That you your self being extant well might show,
How far a modern quill doth come too short,
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow.
This silence for my sin you did impute,
Which shall be most my glory being dumb,
For I impair not beauty being mute,
When others would give life, and bring a tomb.
There lives more life in one of your fair eyes,
Than both your Poets can in praise devise.
The only break from regular iambic pentameter in Sonnet 83 is the initial trochee-iamb in line 8 (“SPEAKing of WORTH”). The rhythm is smooth but uncomplicated, just like the sonnet’s argument.
84
Who is it that says most, which can say more,
Than this rich praise, that you alone, are you,
In whose confine immuréd is the store,
Which should example where your equal grew.
Lean penury within that Pen doth dwell,
That to his subject lends not some small glory,
But he that writes of you, if he can tell
That you are you, so dignifies his story.
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made so clear,
And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,
Making his style admired everywhere.
You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,
Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.
There is an alternation of complexity in the rhythms of this sonnet. Line 1 starts with a trochee-iamb and the heavy pause of the midline comma makes this a choppy line to read. Line 5 starts with a spondee, emphasizing the “LEAN PENurY” of the Rival Poet’s pen. The lilting feminine endings of lines 6 and 8 carry the rest of the quatrain away in simplicity. The initial trochee-iamb in line 12 is unremarkable but the same pattern in line 13 is as unexpected as its curse. I find the word You jumping out at me. As I read through the line, beauteous softens the first word but then curse harshens it again. I have as much difficulty deciding how to read the meter of this sonnet as I do its tone.
85
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praise richly compil’d,
Reserve their Character with golden quill,
And precious phrase by all the Muses fil’d.
I think good thoughts, whilst others write good words,
And like unlettered clerk still cry ‘Amen,’
To every Hymn that able spirit affords
In polish’d form of well refinéd pen.
Hearing you prais’d, I say ‘’tis so, ’tis true,’
And to the most of praise add something more,
But that is in my thought, whose love to you
(Though words come hind-most) holds his rank before.
Then others, for the breath of words respect,
Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect.
The rhythm of Sonnet 85 is interrupted three times. First, there is the trochee-iamb at the end of line 2: “RICHly comPILED.” Next we have an initial trochee-iamb in line 9: “HEARing you PRAISED.” The most, dramatic, though, is the final line, which has an initial trochee-iamb and a spondee in the middle: “ME for my DUMB THOUGHTS SPEAKing IN efFECT.” These are key lines in the poem.
86
Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of (all too precious) you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verse astonishéd.
He nor that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence,
As victors of my silence cannot boast,
I was not sick of any fear from thence.
But when your countenance fill’d up his line,
Then lack’d I matter, that enfeebled mine.
. This sonnet is filled with trochees (nine in all) but has many other irregularities of meter. The most common pattern of a trochee-iamb followed by a midline pause is present in only three lines (4, 5 and 8). There are six other lines with trochee-iambs with a number of different variations: midline pauses in different positions, internal trochee-iambs, one or more feet with spondees, internal rhyme (tomb…womb in line 4) and word repetition (spirit, by spirits in line 5). The effect of this is to maintain the emphatic effect of the lines with trochees without losing a sense of flow. There’s also a gradual change as the sonnet progresses. The questions of the first 6 lines are highly irregular: the first five all start with trochee-iambs except line 3, which has a midline trochee-iamb; the first two lines also have spondees (note the pronunciation of spirit as one syllable in the second foot of line 5 and as two syllables in the third foot):
1: WAS it the PROUD FULL SAIL
2: BOUND for the PRIZE of (ALL TOO PREcious)
3: That DID my RIPE THOUGHTS in my BRAIN
4: MAKing their TOMB the WOMB
5: WAS it his SPIR’T by SPIrits
After line 6, there are three lines with initial trochee-iambs (beginning with the startling line 7, with its pause after the first syllable (“NO, neither HE”), followed by four regular lines, then the last line has an initial trochee-iamb: “THEN lacked i MATter THATenFEEbled MINE.” Notice how the weakness of the second syllable of “matter” puts a stronger emphasis on the following word, “that.” This rhythm dramatizes the hectoring questions, the emphatic answer, flowing rapidly through the second sestet, and the accusatory final line.
87
Farewell thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know’st thy estimate,
The Charter of thy worth gives thee releasing,
My bonds in thee are all determinate.
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting,
And for that riches where is my deserving?
The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,
And so my patent back again is swerving.
Thy self thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing,
Or me to whom thou gav’st it, else mistaking,
So thy great gift upon misprision growing,
Comes home again, on better judgment making.
Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter,
In sleep a King, but waking no such matter.
Sonnet 87 is distinguished by its use of feminine endings in twelve of its fourteen lines. And the two lines without feminine endings (lines 2 and 4) each end with a pyrrhic resulting in a similar flowing effect. The softness that this imparts to the sonnet matches the sentiment of its statement. The dream of the couplet is marked by the unusual meter of line 13: “THUS have i HAD thee as a DREAM doth FLATter” (trochee, iamb, pyrrhic, two iambs, feminine ending). Note how those three unstressed syllables in a row result in an increase in the stress on dream. So natural in the context of the dreamy feminine endings.
88
When thou shalt be dispos’d to set me light,
And place my merit in the eye of scorn,
Upon thy side, against my self I’ll fight,
And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forsworn.
With mine own weakness being best acquainted,
Upon thy part I can set down a story
Of faults conceal’d, wherein I am attainted,
That thou in losing me, shall win much glory.
And I by this will be a gainer too,
For bending all my loving thoughts on thee,
The injuries that to my self I do,
Doing thee vantage, double vantage me.
Such is my love, to thee I so belong,
That for thy right, my self will bear all wrong.
The meter of Sonnet 88 varies in a way that tells part of its story. The first quatrain states the predicted future in four lines of regular iambs. The next four lines detail W.’s willingness to speak even worse of himself than Y.M. would. They are also written with regular iambs except that all four lines have feminine endings, making them sound gentle instead of harsh or accusatory. The regular meter is resumed to explain the advantage he gains, emphasized by the initial trochee-iamb of the last line of the third quatrain (‘DOing thee VANtage”). W.’s love has the final say with the repeated initial trochee-iamb of line 13: “SUCH is my LOVE.”
89
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
And I will comment upon that offense,
Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
Against thy reasons making no defense.
Thou canst not (love) disgrace me half so ill,
To set a form upon desiréd change,
As I’ll my self disgrace, knowing thy will,
I will acquaintance strangle and look strange,
Be absent from thy walks and in my tongue,
Thy sweet belovéd name no more shall dwell,
Lest I (too much profane) should do it wrong,
And haply of our old acquaintance tell.
For thee, against my self I’ll vow debate,
For I must ne’er love him whom thou dost hate.
Double sonnet to be read with Sonnet 90.
90
Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now,
Now while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after loss.
Ah do not, when my heart hath scap’d this sorrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquer’d woe,
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purpos’d over-throw.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,
When other petty griefs have done their spite,
But in the onset come, so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune’s might.
And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,
Compar’d with loss of thee, will not seem so.
Sonnets 89 and 90 have only a few departures from regular iambic pentameter but their rhythms are varied and rich. The first quatrain of Sonnet 89 is the most irregular, as halting as the lameness it discusses. There are trochees and pyrrhics throughout the first three lines: “SAY that thou DIDST for SAKE me FOR some FAULT, / And I will COMment up ON that ofFENSE, / SPEAKE of my LAMEness and i STRAIGHT will TALK.” The only other irregularities are the midline trochee-iamb in line 7 of Sonnet 89 (“As I’LL my SELF disGRACE, KNOWing thy WILL”) and the initial trochee-iambs in lines 2 and 3 of Sonnet 90. The punctuation of these sonnets is the key to their rhythm. The midline pauses shift around from line to line and the parenthetical phrases check the flow repeatedly. These sonnets sound like natural speech.
91
Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body’s force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill,
Some in their Hawks and Hounds, some in their Horse.
And every humor hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest,
But these particulars are not my measure,
All these I better in one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost,
Of more delight than Hawks or Horses be,
And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast.
Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take
All this away, and me most wretched make.
Triple sonnet to be read with Sonnets 92 and 93.
92
But do thy worst to steal thy self away,
For term of life thou art assuréd mine,
And life no longer than thy love will stay,
For it depends upon that love of thine.
Then need I not to fear the worst of wrongs,
When in the least of them my life hath end,
I see, a better state to me belongs
Than that, which on thy humor doth depend.
Thou canst not vex me with inconstant mind,
Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie,
Oh what a happy title do I find,
Happy to have thy love, happy to die!
But what’s so blesséd fair that fears no blot?
Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not.
93
So shall I live, supposing thou are true,
Like a deceivéd husband, so love’s face
May still seem love to me, though alter’d new,
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place.
For there can live no hatred in thine eye,
Therefore in that I cannot know thy change,
In many’s looks, the false heart’s history
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange.
But heaven in thy creation did decree,
That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell,
Whate’er thy thoughts, or thy heart’s workings be,
Thy looks should nothing thence, but sweetness tell.
How like Eve’s apple doth thy beauty grow,
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show.
In contrast to its diction, the meter of Sonnet 91 is complex. Each repetition of the word some occurs in a position that would normally be unstressed, but the word demands a stress in every occurrence except the first. This results in an initial trochee-iamb in lines 2-4 and internal trochee-iambs in lines 1, 2 and 4. The comparatives richer and prouder also result in trochees in line 10, as does wretched in line 13. I also find line 12 reads best when both syllables of men’s pride in line 12 are stressed: “of ALL MEN’S PRIDE i BOAST.” In between these two highly stressed first and third quatrains, the second quatrain flows gracefully with feminine endings in lines 5 and 7. All the emphasis is on the comparisons.
The more complex diction of Sonnet 92 is accompanied by a much less complex meter. The only irregularity is in line 12, which has two trochee-iambs: “HAPpy to HAVE thy LOVE, HAPpy to DIE.” Just before the couplet brings in fear, the emphasis in line 12 is on happiness.
Sonnet 93 starts with two initial trochee-iambs “SO shall i LIVE” (line 1); “LIKE a deCEIvèd HUSband” (line 2). The remaining lines are all regular. “Here it is,” the meter announces. Calm, stately rhythms explain the situation.
94
They that have pow’r to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmovéd, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,
And husband nature’s riches from expense,
They are the Lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence.
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to it self, it only live and die,
But if that flow’r with base infection meet,
The basest weed out-braves his dignity;
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
Sonnet 94 moves along steadily with a regular rhythm through most of its lines. The second quatrain speeds up with its two feminine endings in lines 5 and 7. The only emphases are the trochee-iambs in line 8 (“OTHers but STEwards”) and 14 (“LILies that FESter”).
95
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame,
Which like a canker in the fragrant Rose,
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name?
Oh in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose!
That tongue that tells the story of thy days,
(Making lascivious comments on thy sport)
Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise,
Naming thy name, blesses an ill report.
Oh what a mansion have those vices got,
Which for their habitation chose out thee,
Where beauty’s veil doth cover every blot,
And all things turns to fair, that eyes can see!
Take heed (dear heart) of this large privilege,
The hardest knife ill us’d doth lose his edge.
The only two irregular lines are lines 6 and 8, both of which start with trochee-iambs; line 8 also has a midline trochee-iamb: “MAKing lasCIVious COMments ON thy SPORT”; “NAMing thy NAME, BLESses an ILL rePORT.” These two lines seem most relevant to the couplet’s warning: Take heed (dear heart) of this large privilege, / The hardest knife I’ll us’d doth lose his edge.
96
Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness,
Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport,
Both grace and faults are lov’d of more and less,
Thou mak’st faults graces, that to thee resort.
As on the finger of a thronéd Queen,
The basest Jewel will be well esteem’d,
So are the errors that in thee are seen,
To truths translated, and for true things deem’d.
How many Lambs might the stern Wolf betray,
If like a Lamb he could his looks translate?
How many gazers migh’st thou lead away,
If thou wouldst use the strength of all thy state?
But do not so, I love thee in such sort,
As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
The rhythm seems awkward in this sonnet. The meter of the last two words of line 1 are unusual and ungainly, ending with the spondee-pyrrhic: “SOME WONtonness.” Line 9 has the less uncommon pyrrhic-spondee, but it’s hardly more fluid: “might the STERN WOLF beTRAY.” The only other irregular line is the last one, with the internal trochee-iamb: “As THOU being MINE, MINE is thy GOOD rePORT.” The remaining regular lines have little to keep them from sounding choppy and repetitive. Like a lesson being drummed into a schoolboy.
97
How like a Winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year?
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen?
What old December’s bareness everywhere?
And yet this time remov’d was summer’s time,
The teeming Autumn big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime,
Like widowed wombs after their Lords’ decease.
Yet this abundant issue seem’d to me,
But hope of Orphans, and un-fathered fruit,
For Summer and his pleasures wait on thee,
And thou away, the very birds are mute.
Or if they sing, ’tis with so dull a cheer,
That leaves look pale, dreading the Winter’s near.
The meter of this sonnet blends beautifully with the imagery. The midline pauses move around as fleetingly as the year in line 2; the spondee at the end of line 3 (“What DARK DAYS SEEN”) heightens the darkness of the days; and the trochee-iamb beginning line 7 (“BEAR ing the WANton”) and, especially, the internal trochee-iambs of lines 8 (“AFter their LORDS’”) and 14 (“DREADing the WINter’s NEAR”) keep the sonnet moving toward its end.
98
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud pied April (dress’d in all his trim)
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh’d and leapt with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the Lilly’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the Rose,
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem’d it Winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
Sonnet 98 is dominated by spondees. We find them in lines 2, 5 and 8. The first one emphasizes the beauty of the season: “When PROUD PIED APril.” In line 5, the pyrrhic-spondee, emphasizes the beauty of the flowers: “Yet NOR the LAYS of BIRDS, nor the SWEET SMELL.” Note that line 6 is regular because of its word inversion (“Of DIFf’rent FLOW’RS” is regular, but “Of FLOW’RS DIFf’frent” would not be; the irregular construction is also awkward). The final spondee gets us back to the word proud: “Or FROM their PROUD LAP PLUCK them WHERE they GREW.” The only other irregular line is line 12, with its initial trochee-iamb: “DRAWN after YOU.” The regularity of the couplet makes it sound gentler after the proud stresses of the quatrains.
99
The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells
If not from my love’s breath, the purple pride,
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells,
In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The Lily I condemnéd for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair,
The Roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair,
A third nor red, nor white, had stol’n of both,
And to his robb’ry had annex’d thy breath,
But for his theft in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see,
But sweet, or color it had stol’n from thee.
The first four lines of Sonnet 99 are very irregular. There are also no pauses at the ends of lines 2 through 4. There are midline trochee-iambs in lines 1, 2 and 4 and an initial spondee in line 2. There is a grammatical pause in the middle of line 3. After line 4, all the lines are regular, with pauses at the end of each one. Here’s the meter of the first five lines:
“The FORward VIoLET THUS did i CHIDE:
SWEET THIEF WHENCE didst thou STEAL thy SWEET that SMELLS
If NOT from MY love’s BREATH? The PURple PRIDE,
Which ON thy SOFT CHEEK for comPLExion DWELLS,
In MY love’s VEINS thou HAST too GROSSly DYED.”
This can’t be read swiftly. It’s not exactly ungainly but it has a choppiness to it that imparts a seriousness to the lines. The regularity of the following lines is a stark contrast. They read very quickly. It makes them sound funnier—especially when we read about the particolored rose getting his just deserts. And that makes the first five lines sound mock-serious. This contrasting rhythm is part of the fun of Sonnet 99.
100
Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long,
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend’st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Dark’ning thy pow’r to lend base subjects light?
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem,
In gentle numbers time so idly spent,
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem,
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise resty Muse, my love’s sweet face survey,
If time have any wrinkle graven there,
If any, be a Satire to decay,
And make time’s spoils despiséd everywhere.
Give my love fame faster than time wastes life,
So thou prevent’st his scythe, and crooked knife.
There are initial trochee-iambs in lines 3, 4, 7, and 13, with a second, midline trochee-iamb in line 13 (“GIVE my love FAME, FASter than TIME wastes LIFE”), and three spondees, two in line 9 (“RISE RESty MUSE, my LOVE’S SWEET FACE surVEY”) and one in line 12 (“and MAKE TIME’S SPOILS”). If Sonnet 100 sounds bombastic to you, the meter doesn’t help. Is W. trying to sound inauthentic?