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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 55 by PHILIP SIDNEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: MUSES, I OFT INVOKED YOUR HOLY AID
Last Line: THAT I WELL FIND NO ELOQUENCE LIKE IT.
Subject(s): LOVE; STARS;

Muses, I oft invoked your holy aid,
With choicest flowers my speech to engarland so
That it, despised in true but naked show,
Might win some grace in your sweet skill arrayed;
And oft whole troops of saddest words I stayed,
Striving abroad a-foraging to go,
Until by your inspiring I might know
How their black banner might be best displayed.
But now I mean no more your help to try,
Nor other sugaring of my speech to prove,
But on her name incessantly to cry:
For let me but name her, whom I do love,
So sweet sounds straight mine ear and heart do hit
That I well find no eloquence like it.



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