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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 61 by PHILIP SIDNEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: OFT WITH TRUE SIGHS, OFT WITH UNCALLED TEARS
Last Line: THAT I LOVE NOT, WITHOUT I LEAVE TO LOVE.
Subject(s): LOVE; STARS;

Oft with true sighs, oft with uncalled tears,
Now with slow words, now with dumb eloquence,
I Stella's eyes assail, invade her ears;
But this at last is her sweet-breathed defence:
That who indeed infelt affection bears,
So captives to his saint both soul and sense
That wholly hers, all selfness he forbears;
Thence his desires he learns, his life's course thence.
Now since her chaste mind hates this love in me,
With chastened mind I straight must show that she
Shall quickly me from what she hates remove.
O doctor Cupid, thou for me reply;
Driven else to grant, by angel's sophistry,
That I love not, without I leave to love.



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