Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature Tudor Rose Sir Philip Sidney

Renaissance English Literature | Sir Philip Sidney | Biography | Quotes | Works | Essays | Bookstore | Links | Discussion Forum

Medieval

Renaissance

Seventeenth Century

Eighteenth Century

Encyclopedia



 

Sir Philip Sidney

Titian. Venus and Cupid with a Lute Player, 1565-70
Titian. Venus and Cupid with a Lute Player, 1565-70.


Astrophel and Stella

First Song.

DOUBT you to whom my Muse these notes intendeth,
Which now my breast surcharged to music lendeth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only in you my song begins and endeth.

Who hath the eyes which marry state with pleasure !
Who keeps the key of Nature's chiefest treasure !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only for you the heaven forgat all measure.

Who hath the lips where wit in fairness reigneth !
Who womankind at once both decks and staineth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only by you Cupid his crown maintaineth.

Who hath the feet, whose step all sweetness planteth !
Who else, for whom Fame worthy trumpets wanteth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only to you her sceptre Venus granteth.

Who hath the breast whose milk doth patience nourish !
Whose grace is such that when it chides doth cherish !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only through you the tree of life doth flourish.

Who hath the hand, which without stroke subdueth !
Who long-dead beauty with increase reneweth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only at you all envy hopeless rueth.

Who hath the hair, which loosest fastest tieth !
Who makes a man live then glad when he dieth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only of you the flatterer never lieth.

Who hath the voice, which soul from senses sunders !
Whose force but yours the bolts of beauty thunders !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only with you not miracles are wonders.

Doubt you to whom my Muse these notes intendeth,
Which now my breast o'ercharged to music lendeth !
      To you, to you, all song of praise is due,
Only in you my song begins and endeth.





A Book of Elizabethan Lyrics.   Felix E. Schelling, Ed.
Boston: Ginn and Company, 1895. 11-12.





Back to Works of Sir Philip Sidney




Site copyright ©1996-2010 Anniina Jokinen. All Rights Reserved.
Created by Anniina Jokinen on June 12, 1996. Last updated on July 15, 2010.



 



The Tudors

King Henry VII
Elizabeth of York

King Henry VIII
Queen Catherine of Aragon
Queen Anne Boleyn
Queen Jane Seymour
Queen Anne of Cleves
Queen Catherine Howard
Queen Katherine Parr

King Edward VI
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I


Renaissance English Writers
Bishop John Fisher
William Tyndale
Sir Thomas More
John Heywood
Thomas Sackville
John Bale
Nicholas Udall
John Skelton
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Henry Howard
Hugh Latimer
Thomas Cranmer
Roger Ascham
Sir Thomas Hoby
John Foxe
George Gascoigne
John Lyly
Thomas Nashe
Sir Philip Sidney
Edmund Spenser
Richard Hooker
Robert Southwell
Robert Greene
George Peele
Thomas Kyd
Edward de Vere
Christopher Marlowe
Anthony Munday
Sir Walter Ralegh
Thomas Hariot
Thomas Campion
Mary Sidney Herbert
Sir John Davies
Samuel Daniel
Michael Drayton
Fulke Greville
Emilia Lanyer
William Shakespeare


Persons of Interest
Visit Encyclopedia


Historical Events
Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520
Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536
The Babington Plot, 1586
The Spanish Armada, 1588


Elizabethan Theatre
See section
English Renaissance Drama


Images of London:
London in the time of Henry VII. MS. Roy. 16 F. ii.
London, 1510, the earliest view in print
Map of England from Saxton's Descriptio Angliae, 1579
Location Map of Elizabethan London
Plan of the Bankside, Southwark, in Shakespeare's time
Detail of Norden's Map of the Bankside, 1593
Bull and Bear Baiting Rings from the Agas Map (1569-1590, pub. 1631)
Sketch of the Swan Theatre, c. 1596
Westminster in the Seventeenth Century, by Hollar
Visscher's Panoramic View of London, 1616. COLOR



Luminarium | Encyclopedia | What's New | Letter from the Editor | Bookstore | Poster Store | Discussion Forums | Search