As Mighty Toy Cannon over at Culture Shock has informed me, April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate, I'll be posting poems about poetry all through the month. Today's poem opens the sonnet cycle by one of the masters of that form in renaissance England, Philip Sidney. Unlike most sonnets, it is written in hexameter, not pentameter, giving the pace a steady build, as opposed to the stately closed lines you get with a lot of pentameter.
From Astrophil and Stella
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay;
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my trewand pen, beating myself for spite,
"Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart and write."
1582?
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I particularly like the progression starting with "Pleasure might cause her read ..." In an odd way, it reminds me of a guitar lick that progresses forward two steps, back one, then forward two ...
ReplyDeleteI also like the line about the "trewand pen."
I think that guitar lick idea is actually rather apt. The poem does a lot with rhythm and melody. Also, sonnet writers were about the equivalent of rock stars in the period; Sidney himself heroically died young.
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