Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,When I against myself with thee partake?Do I not think on thee, when I forgotAm of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake?Who hateth thee that I do call my friend?On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon?Nay, if thou lour’st on me, do I not spendRevenge upon myself with present moan?What merit do I in myself respect,That is so proud thy service to despise,When all my best doth worship thy defect,Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind;Those that can see thou lov’st, and I am blind. 481214 | ||
Q1Q2Q3C Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,When I against myself with thee partake?Do I not think on thee, when I forgotAm of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake?Who hateth thee that I do call my friend?On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon?Nay, if thou lour’st on me, do I not spendRevenge upon myself with present moan?What merit do I in myself respect,That is so proud thy service to despise,When all my best doth worship thy defect,Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind;Those that can see thou lov’st, and I am blind. | ||
Sonnet 149 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
It is considered a Dark Lady sonnet, as are all from 127 to 152.
Structure
Sonnet 149 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 8th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × / Revenge upon myself with present moan? (149.8)/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.The last line begins with a common metrical variant, an initial reversal:
/ × × / × / × / × / Those that can see thou lov'st, and I am blind. (149.14)Initial reversals are potentially present in lines 3, 4, and 14, and a mid-line reversal is potentially present in line 6.
The meter demands that line 2's "cruel" be pronounced as two syllables, and line 11's "defect" (although a noun) be stressed on the second syllable.