Sonnet XXIII: The Curious Wits

Sir Philip Sidney 1554 (Penshurst, Kent) – 1586 (Zutphen)



The curious wits seeing dull pensiveness
Bewray itself in my long settled eyes,
Whence those same fumes of melancholy rise,
With idle pains, and missing aim, do guess.

Some that know how my spring I did address,
Deem that my Muse some fruit of knowledge plies:
Others, because the Prince my service tries,
Think that I think state errors to redress.

But harder judges judge ambition's rage,
Scourge of itself, still climbing slipp'ry place,
Holds my young brain cativ'd in golden cage.

Oh Fools, or over-wise, alas the race
Of all my thoughts hath neither stop nor start,
But only Stella's eyes and Stella's heart.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
36

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAAA AAAA BAB ACC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 622
Words 107
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. more…

All Sir Philip Sidney poems | Sir Philip Sidney Books

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