Analysis of Thou Blind Man's Mark

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



Thou blind man's mark, thou fool's self chosen snare,
Fond fancy's scum, and dregs of scatter'd thought,
Band of all evils, cradle of causeless care,
Thou web of will,whose end is never wrought.

Desire, desire I have too dearly bought,
With price of mangled mind thy worthless ware,
Too long, too long asleep thou hast me brought,
Who should my mind to higher things prepare.

But yet in vain thou hast my ruin sought,
In vain thou madest me to vain things aspire,
In vain thou kindlest all thy smoky fire.

For virtue hath this better lesson taught,
Within myself to seek my only hire:
Desiring nought but how to kill desire.


Scheme ABAB XABA BXC BCC
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 111011101 1111010111 111111101 010010111101 1111011101 1111011111 1111110101 1101111101 0111111101 0111111010 1101110101 0111111010 010011111010
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 632
Words 115
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 122
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

35 sec read
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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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