Sonnet XI: In Truth, Oh Love
Sir Philip Sidney 1554 (Penshurst, Kent) – 1586 (Zutphen)
In truth, oh Love, with what a boyish kind
Thou doest proceed in thy most serious ways:
That when the heav'n to thee his best displays,
Yet of that best thou leav'st the best behind.
For like a child that some fair book doth find,
With gilded leaves or colored vellum plays,
Or at the most on some find picture stays,
But never heeds the fruit of writer's mind:
So when thou saw'st in Nature's cabinet
Stella, thou straight lookst babies in her eyes,
In her cheek's pit thou didst thy pitfall set:
And in her breast bopeep or couching lies,
Playing and shining in each outward part:
But, fool, seekst not to get into her heart.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 26 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBA ABBA XCX CDD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 635 |
Words | 119 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3 |
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"Sonnet XI: In Truth, Oh Love" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/35356/sonnet-xi:-in-truth,-oh-love>.
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