Analysis of Sonnet 104: Envious wits

Sir Philip Sidney 1554 (Penshurst, Kent) – 1586 (Zutphen)



Envious wits, what hath been mine offense,
That with such poisonous care my looks you mark,
That to each word, nay sigh of mine you hark,
As grudging me my sorrow's eloquence?

Ah, is it not enough that I am thence?
Thence, so far thence, that scarcely any spark
Of comfort dare come to this dungeon dark,
Where rigorous exile locks up all my sense?

But if I by a happy window pass,
If I but stars upon mine armor bear
--Sick, thirsty, glad (though but of empty glass):

Your moral notes straight my hid meaning tear
From out my ribs, and puffing prove that I
Do Stella love. Fools, who doth it deny?


Scheme ABBX ABBA CDC DEE
Poetic Form
Metre 1001111101 11110011111 1111111111 110111100 1111011111 1111110101 1101111101 1100111111 1111010101 1111011101 1101111101 1101111101 1111010111 1101111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 606
Words 116
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
64

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. more…

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