Sonnet 86: Alas, Whence Come This Change Of Looks?

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



Alas, whence come this change of looks? If I
Have chang'd desert, let mine own conscience be
A still-felt plague, to self-condemning me:
Let woe gripe on my heart, shame load mine eye.

But if all faith, like spotless ermine lie
Safe in my soul, which only doth to thee
(As his sole object of felicity)
With wings of love in air of wonder fly,

Oh ease your hand, treat not so hard your slave:
In justice pains come not till faults do call.
Or if I needs, sweet Judge, must torments have,

Use something else to chasten me withal
Than those blest eyes, where all my hopes do dwell.
No doom should make one's heav'n become his hell.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
48

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA ABBA XCX CDD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 636
Words 121
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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