Loving in Truth Sonnet No 1 Analysis Summary Questions Answers
“Loving in Truth” is the sonnet no 1 taken from Sir Philip Sidney’s most celebrated “Astrophel and Stella” in which we find 108 sonnets. This was published in 1582. Here the poet describes his own realisation that poetic urge always comes spontaneously from heart. It can not be achieved from outer things.
Loving in Truth (Sonnet No. 1)
Sir Philip Sidney
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That She, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know;
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain –
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburnt brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay;
Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows,
And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite-
“Fool!” said my Muse to me “look in thy heart, and write!”
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Summary of Loving in Truth
“Loving in Truth” belongs to the sonnet-sequence “Astrophel and Stella” in which the poet (Astrophel) expresses his eagerness to delight his lady love (Stella) by writing verse on his love in order to draw her attention towards him. He feels that after reading his verse, she might come to know about his love for her and feel pity for him. The poet hopes that ultimately he would be able to win her grace and love.
He, therefore, seeks hard to find appropriate words to express his feeling of love. He attempts to find inspiration and guidance from other poets’ works to find ‘fit words’ to express his feelings of love.
But he fails to master the poetic craft by imitating great works of other poets.
Ultimately he realises that poetic impulse is a spontaneous urge and studying of poetical measures of other poets stands in the way of expressing his own poetic emotion. He realises that creative inspiration comes from the heart spontaneously and is fed by the nobler feelings like love which too dwell in heart.
Theme of Loving in Truth
Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Astrophel and Stella” has love as its central theme. The poet to show his love for her lady-love, tries to write poetry to win her pity and grace. The poet in the person of Astrophel expresses his eagerness to delight his lady-love by writing verse on his love. So, the lover does not apoear as a lover who violently laments over his rejection of love. He does not declines or renounces but remains satisfied in expressing his love. He, therefore, seeks hard to find ‘fit words’ to express his feelings of love.
But his scholarly attempt to invent something fine to entertain her wits, and his attempt to find inspiration and guidance from other poets bears no fruit at all. To write such a poem that captures his emotional feelings, he initially looks to copy others, but later realizes that all the inspiration he needs is in his heart and he is able to express a lover’s intimate feelings and emotion.
Poetic imagination, spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from the core of heart which is the central theme is well conceived through the images of child and stepmother in the sonnet “Loving in Truth”. Poetic imagination or fancy is said to be the child of nature as it is spontaneous.
Again study is said to be the stepmother of poetic invention. As the child wishes to run away from the wrath of stepmother, poetic invention always tries to get rid of the authority of study. The lover ultimately realizes it and follows the sincerity of his heart.
Moral of the Sonnet Loving in Truth
In the sonnet “Loving in Truth” taken from Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet-sequence “Astrophel and Stella”, we find a moral about the poetic inspiration which is highly true. Poetic inspiration is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings of heart. Sidney reveals this moral at the end of the sonnet and realizes that poetic inspiration can not be formed by any scholarly study or imitation. The creative inspiration comes from the heart spontaneously and is fed by nobler feelings like love which too dwell in the heart.
Here Sidney’s approach to love as reflected in his sonnet is free from any angry denunciation or distraction. His love is absolute without any uncertainty and the dedication to love is genuine and unconditional. This is the morality of love which is prepared for any sort of toil and pain to win the favour of lady-love.
Structure of the sonnet Loving in Truth
Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” taken from his sonnet-sequence “Astrophel and Stella” is thematically a Petrarchan sonnet consisting of fourteen lines and is divisible into the octave and the sestet. The first eight lines of the sonnet form the octave shows the poet’s frantic effort to please his lady-love by writing verse on his love, whereas in the last six lines there is a ‘volta’ or turn of thought and the poet shows his ultimate realization.
But structurally it is a Shakespearean sonnet because its rhyme-scheme is – ABAB, CDCD, EFEF,GG.
Title of the sonnet Loving in Truth
Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” adequately represents the theme of love. There is a note of stark sincerity in this sonnet. The expression ‘loving in truth’ carries the key thought of the poem which is sincerity in love.
The expression ‘loving in truth’ shows that love is here absolute without any uncertainty and the dedication of love is genuine and unconditional. This devotion of love is expressed in the poet’s offering of his labour and pain for the sake of his lady-love. To draw her beloved’s attention, he has sought instructions from other poets’ works.
The title of the sonnet shows that love is here an ideal of life, that requires selfless dedication and earnest yearning. Hence, the title is indeed appropriate and justified.
Line By Line Explanation of the sonnet Loving in Truth
Explanation of Lines 1 – 4
:“Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That, She, dear She, might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know;
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain”
“Loving in truth” means loving sincerely or whole heartedly. The poet in the person of a lover desires to express his love and sincere devotion in verse. “Knowledge” referred to here is how much the poet loves sincerely his lady-love. He is eager to show his sincere love for his lady-love in his verse because he thinks that if his beloved reads his verse, she may be pleased to know the poet’s deep agony due to unfulfilled love and this knowledge may bring her pity to the poet. The lover here proposes to achieve her beloved’s pity and grace by writing verse in her praise and spares no pain for the purpose.
Explanation of Lines 5 – 8:
“I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburnt brain.”
In the sonnet “Loving in Truth”, Sir Philip Sidney in the person of a lover expresses his desire to show his beloved his love in his verse written in her praise. He hopes that his effort, if successful may win ultimately for him her ‘pity’ and ‘grace’. In his frantic effort to find ‘fit words’ to paint his deep pang caused by unfulfilled love, he attempts to find inspiration and guidance from other poets’ works.
Hence, he has often turned others’ leaves that is the pages of books written by other poets. The poet-lover here expresses his benumbed condition due to his unrequited love through the quoted lines. The poet-lover suffers from so much agony and pang of his unfulfilled love that his brain becomes completely unproductive. It has become dry and scorched like the heat-oppressed land of summer.
So he seeks earnestly the showers of fresh thought and imagination of other poets upon his benumbed brain, so that it can produce appropriate verse to express his genuine love to his beloved.
Explanation of Lines 9 – 11:
“But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay;
Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows;
And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way.”
In the sonnet, “Loving in Truth”, the poet-lover proposes to achieve his lady-love’s pity and grace by writing verse in her praise. So he tries to imitate others’ works but he fails. He realises that poetic fancy or imagination is a spontaneous expression and can not be imposed by imitation or guidance from others.
So he realises that “Invention” is “Nature’s Child”. The poet-lover here compares poetic imagination to a child and study to its step-mother. He compares so because true poetic imagination comes naturally and spontaneously, not by studying or borrowing others’ imagination.
Just as a child always tries to escape the clutch of its step-mother, similarly when the poet-lover, being unable to produce appropriate words to express his genuine love to his beloved, tries to take help of the words of others poets, those imagination borrowed from other poets try to escape and can not produce appropriate verse. Poetic invention evades the authority of the ‘study’ just as a child runs away from the command of his stepmother.
Explanation of Lines 12 – 14:
“Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite
Fool said my Muse to me look in thy heart, and write.”
The quoted lines taken from Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” from his sonnet-sequence “Astrophel and Stella” bring out the poet-lover’s great agony for his inability to express his love to his beloved in appropriate words. In order to please her beloved by writing verse in her praise, the poet-lover indulges in frantic effort of finding ‘fit words’ for his expression. But he fails. So he feels ‘helpless’ and was in pain for he can not express his poetic urge in proper words.
So, Sidney is called ‘Fool’ by the Muse (the inspirers of poetry) for his unfruitful effort. Just as a child not issued in time from its mother’s womb causes pain of its mother, similarly the poet-lover
Questions Answers From The Sonnet Loving In Truth
1. Why does the poet-lover want to express his genuine love to his beloved?
Ans: In Sur Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” taken from his sonnet-sequence “Astrophel and Stella”, the poet-lover wants to express his genuine love to his beloved in appropriate words through his verse because he thinks that if his beloved reads his verse, she may be pleased to know the poet’s deep agony due to unfulfilled love and this knowledge may bring her pity and grace to the poet.
2. How does the poet try to win the lady-love’s pity and grace?
Ans: The poet-lover in Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” tries desperately to express his genuine love to his beloved in appropriate words of his verse. But as he is unable to create appropriate words, he reads extensively the fine imagination and feelings expressed in others’ verses and tries to imitate the works of others. But he fails absolutely in his efforts.
3. What type of sonnet is Loving in Truth?
Ans: Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet “Loving in Truth” is cast in the mould of a typical Petrarchan sonnet of 14 lines and is divisible into the octave and sestet. While the octave presents the efforts of the poet at writing poetry, the sestet narrates his failure and subsequent realization.
4. Is the sonnet “Loving in Truth” a lamentation of a lover?
Ans: In “Loving in Truth” we find a lover who tries to express his sincere love and thus to gain mastery in his literary talent. But he does not appear as a lover who violently laments over his rejection of love. He is free from any angry denunciation and distraction. His love is absolute and unconditional. He remains satisfied in expressing his love through his verse. Lover here emerges as a follower of selfless ideal to be sought sincerely.
5. Why there is reference of “Muse” in the sonnet “Loving in Truth”?
Ans: According to classical mythology, Muses are said to be nine goddesses who inspire poetry, music, painting etc. Here in the sonnet, ‘Muse’ stands for poetic inspiration which according the realisation of Sidney, comes from the core of the heart. This invocation also confirms to the Elizabethan poetic tradition and it is also an example of Sidney’s wit and humour.
6. In what way “Loving in Truth” is a typical reflection of the poetic feeling of the times?
Ans: All the sonnets of the period reveal the same spirit of passion and regret highlighted by the poet whose poems are characterised by a similar Elizabethan tone of eternalizing his lover through emotion displayed through poetry.
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