Sonnet LXXX
1) The meter of the sonnet is iambic pentameter. All endings are
masculine.
2) 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 wilfully 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
3) Faint: become weak
Write….
