Sonnet 149 metrical variant, an initial reversal: 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. Sonnet 149 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. Sonnet 149 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a
Sonnet 118 beginning with the third quatrain. Traditionally the administering of emetics, the trope worked in Sonnet 118, had three purposes: to renew the palate, to forestall the onset of sickness, and to counteract poison. The sonnet also picks up the motif of "palate", "cup", and "poison", left off at the end of Sonnet 114. The first pair of lines describes how "we our pallat urge"; "urge" means to 'intensify' or 'sharpen' the taste, but the word was used also of distillations which are 'urged' to a degree that a compound is yielded. "Appetites" are sharpened or made more acute ("more keen")