“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Summary

“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Themes

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  The Immortalizing Power of Poetry

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand”

• Lines 1-2

  One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
  But came the waves and washed it away:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  Again I wrote it with a second hand,
  But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  "Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
  A mortal thing so to immortalize;
  For I myself shall like to this decay,
  And eke my name be wiped out likewise."

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  "Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise
  To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
  And in the heavens write your glorious name:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
  Our love shall live, and later life renew."

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Symbols

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  The Tide/Waves

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“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Antanaclasis

  

  

  

  

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• Polyptoton

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Vain
• strand
• Dost
• Assay
• like to this
• Eke
• Quod
• Baser
• devise
• Eternize
• Whenas
• Subdue

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand”

• Form

• Meter

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“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Speaker

“Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand”

More “Sonnet 75: One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Resources

• External Resources

  • Introduction to the English Renaissance — An introduction to the cultural and literary changes occurring during the time of Spenser's England. 

  • Edmund Spenser's Life and Work — Learn more about the poet at the Poetry Foundation. 

  • Amoretti III: The Sovereign Beauty — Another of Spenser's Amoretti poems, written for his wife Elizabeth Boyle. 

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to a recording of "Sonnet 75" read by Jordan Harling.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Edmund Spenser

  • Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire

  • Prothalamion