Sonnet III: With how sad steps

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



With how sad steps, O moon, thou climb'st the skies!
How silently, and with how wan a face!
What! may it be that even in heavenly place
That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?
Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes
Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case:
I read it in thy looks; thy languished grace
To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.
Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deemed there but want of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be loved, and yet
Those lovers scorn whoom that love doth possess?
Do they call 'virtue' there - ungratefulness?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 25, 2023

36 sec read
43

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCEFA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 626
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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…

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