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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 33 by PHILIP SIDNEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I MIGHT, UNHAPPY WORD, OH ME, I MIGHT
Last Line: THAT I HAD BEEN MORE FOOLISH, OR MORE WISE!
Subject(s): LOVE; STARS;

I might (unhappy word), O me, I might,
And then would not, or could not, see my bliss:
Till now, wrapped in a most infernal night,
I find how heavenly day, wretch, I did miss.
Heart, rend thyself, thou dost thyself but right;
No lovely Paris made thy Helen his;
No force, no fraud, robbed thee of thy delight;
Nor Fortune of thy fortune author is;
But to myself myself did give the blow,
While too much wit (forsooth) so troubled me
That I respects for both our sakes must show:
And yet could not by rising morn foresee
How fair a day was near. O punished eyes,
That I had been more foolish, or more wise!




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