Sonnet 95 is one of
154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. It is a member of the
Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.
Synopsis
The youth's dissolute behaviour is making corruption seem beautiful. Even descriptions of the youth's behaviour make it beautiful. The youth's beauty covers the blots of vice, but everything eventually loses its qualities if it is misused.
Structure
Sonnet 95 is an English or Shakespearean
sonnet. The English sonnet has three
quatrains, followed by a final rhyming
couplet. It follows the typical
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB r ...
of the form, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in
iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called " feet". "Iam ...
, a type of poetic
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 11th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × /
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot (95.11)
:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''.
The 8th line has both an initial and a mid-line reversal:
/ × × / / × × / × /
Naming thy name blesses an ill report. (95.8)
Initial reversals are also present in lines 6 and 10, and potentially in lines 2, 4, and 9.
The meter demands line 6's "lascivious" to function as three syllables.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 095
British poems
Sonnets by William Shakespeare