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Home  »  The English Poets  »  Philomela

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

Philomela

  • [From the collection of Miscellaneous Poems first published in the Arcadia of 1595, under the heading of Certain Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney never before printed.]


  • THE NIGHTINGALE, as soon as April bringeth

    Unto her rested sense a perfect waking,

    While late bare earth, proud of new clothing, springeth,

    Sings out her woes, a thorn her song-book making,

    And mournfully bewailing,

    Her throat in tunes expresseth

    What grief her breast oppresseth

    For Tereus’ force on her chaste will prevailing.

    O Philomela fair, O take some gladness,

    That here is juster cause of plaintful sadness:

    Thine earth now springs, mine fadeth;

    Thy thorn without, my thorn my heart invadeth.