The home which is to him a far off land,
So I miss she whose love was strong and grand,
To me her eyes, those wishing wells, were home.
Better he sailing across the seafoam,
And so can ease the pain of foreign sand,
Than I, by whom hearts' distance pain expand,
Nor can it close, so must I lonely roam.
Besides, he knows that he'll to home return,
His ship goes back, while I can only yearn,
That fate may close the chasm 'tween our hearts.
Then let me cross the sea though it may churn.
In love meet her again, for that I'll earn,
Not ceasing, plot my course on sailor's charts.
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For this piece, I examined Lady Mary Wroth's Sonnet 25 from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus:
Like to the Indians scorched with the Sunne,
The Sunne which they doe as their God adore:
So am I us'd by Love, for evermore
I worship him, lesse favours have I wonne.
Better are they who thus to blacknesse run,
And so can onely whitenesse’s want deplore:
Then I, who pale and white am with griefes' store,
Nor can have hope, but to see hopes undone.
Besides their sacrifice receiv'd in sight,
Of their chose Saint, mine hid as worthlesse rite,
Grant me to see where I my offerings give.
Then let me weare the marke of Cupid's might,
In heart, as they in skin of Phoebus light,
Not ceasing offerings to Love while I live.
My sonnet echoes many of her sentiments. Like Wroth's character, my speaker is contemplating difficulties presented by love. Pamphilia compares her worship of love to "Indians scorched with the Sunne, the Sunne which they doe as their God adore," while my speaker compares the pain of metaphorical distance to a sailor's longing for home. In Sonnet 25, Pamphilia speaks of Love as if it were a god, setting up her comparison. My speaker speaks of love indirectly, exploring a specific, painful aspect of love. In Wroth's sonnet, the use of "Indians" as a comparison, the presence of Cupid and Phoebus, and Love's deification create an air of nobility and romanticism absent in my own. My sonnet includes the literally workmanlike sailor and fails to address Love as an entity, or include the personages of Cupid and Phoebus. Wroth's sonnet is from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, while mine is the far less illustrious (and roman) Miles to Florence. Consequently, the poem has a more pedestrian tone.
In addition to the echoes in the sonnets' contents, I strove to follow Wroth's structure closely. I employ a rhymescheme of ABBA ABBA CCD CCD, identical to Wroth's. In addition to the rhymescheme, I attempted to mimic her meter whenever possible. This effort is largely successful, as Wroth primarily uses iambic pentameter. Wroth includes some dactyl meter in lines 1, 5, and 14. My sonnet manages to imitate this in line 1, but fails in lines 5 and 14. The beginnings of almost every line in Wroth's sonnet are utilized in mine, yet the sonnets develop contrasting tones and explore different, though related, ideas of love and pain.