Sonnet 51 of the third ictus (resulting in a four-position figure, codice_1, sometimes referred to as a "minor ionic"). There are seven possible initial reversals in this sonnet (in lines one, four, five, seven, eight, thirteen, and fourteen), three possible mid-line reversals (in lines three, eleven, and twelve) and two possible "minor ionics" (moving the first ictus of line two, and the third ictus of line five). This metrical agitation contrasts with the plodding regularity of Sonnet 50. Sonnet 51 Sonnet 51 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is part of the Fair
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")