Sonnet 75

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Sonnet 75

Sonnet 75 1609.jpg

–William Shakespeare

Sonnet 75 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

Synopsis

The poet expresses his complete pleasure in the presence of his beloved, but says that his devotion resembles that of a miser to his money, filled with anxiety combined with pleasure in his wealth.

Structure

Sonnet 75 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form, abab cdcd efef gg and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 4th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

×     /   ×  / ×  /    ×   /     ×   / 
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found. (75.4)

The 6th line exhibits two common variations: an initial reversal and a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending:

 /   ×     ×  /   ×   /    ×     /    ×   /  (×) 
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure; (75.6)

/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus. (×) = extrametrical syllable.

Line 8 necessarily repeats the 6th line's feminine ending. Possible initial reversals also occur in lines 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, and 13; though these can be interpreted in other ways.

The meter demands a few variant pronunciations: in the 2nd line, "showers" functions as 1 syllable, and in the 10th line "starvèd" functions as 2.

References

First edition and facsimile

Variorum editions

Modern critical editions

• online text