Sonnetsday 7

My True-Love Hath My Heart
by Sir Philip Sidney

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss:
There never was a bargain better driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one;
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides.
His heart his wound received from my sight;
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
So still, methought, in me his hurt did smart:
Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.


Working forward in time, Sir Philip Sidney followed in the footsteps of the tradition established by Wyatt and Surrey. Sidney was the paragon of a Renaissance courtier; soldier, scholar and poet, he excelled in all he did and was well loved. Among his most notable literary contributions are the sonnet cycle "Astrophil and Stella" and the essays "In Defense of Poesy", as well as his translation of the psalms together with his sister Mary Herbert.  When Sidney died at the battle of Zutphen, the whole of London grieved.


Tags: Sonnets