Astrophil and Stella — Sonnet L
Astrophil and Stella — Sonnet L
Sir Philip Sidney
Stella, the fullnesse of my thoughts of thee
Cannot be staid within my panting breast,
But they do swell and struggle forth of me,
Till that in words thy figure be exprest:
And yet, as soone as they so formed be,
According to my lord Loues oene behest,
With sad eies I their weak proportion see
To portrait that which in this world is best.
So that I cannot chuse but write my mind,
And cannot chuse but put out what I write,
While these poor babes their death in birth do find;
And now my pen these lines had dashed quite
But that they stopt his fury from the same,
Because their forefront bare sweet Stellas name.
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
108 sonnets and 11 songs. Source: Renascence Editions public-domain transcription. Two supplementary sonnets printed after CVIII are outside the sequence.
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