Sonnet 80

Euphonic
(oh sound)

O, how I faint when I of you do write,

The speaker is
upset that the
woman that he
loves is in a
relationship with
someone else.

Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,

And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
The narrator
uses irony in
saying that he is
tongue-tied,
while he is
writing a whole
sonnet about
his feelings.

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,

The speaker uses

metaphor, comparing
the wide ocean to her
wide worth, to show
how highly he thinks
of her.

My saucy bark inferior far to his

On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,

The usage of
shallowest,
explains how
by even the
littlest action
done by the
woman
enchants the
speaker.

Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;

Or being wreck'd, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,

The speaker is
identifying as a boat to
match what he said
about the womans
worth being as wide as
the ocean earlier in the
sonnet. This gives us an
image of a small boat in
a vast sea.

The worst was this; my love was my decay.

This line is very

powerful in
representing the
narrator raw and
honest thoughts on
his affection for the
woman.

Rhyme Scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg