Poet’s Corner: Sonnet, Sidney

20 January 2026

(28 February 2014) Renaissance poets prided themselves on their ‘wit’, or cleverness, and would go a long way to create a clever pun, as the following sonnet, in the Italian form, by Sir Philip Sidney, from his sequence, Astrophil and Stella illustrates:

37
My mouth doth water, my breast doth swell,
My tongue doth itch, my thoughts in labour be;
Listen then, lordlings, with good ear to me,
For of my life I must a riddle tell.
Towards Aurora’s court, a nymph doth dwell,
Rich in all beauties which man’s eye can see,
Beauties so far from reach of words, that we
Abase her praise, saying she doth excell;
Rich in the treasure of deserved renown,
Rich in the riches of a royal heart,
Rich in those gifts which give the eternal crown;
Who though most rich in these and every part,
Which make the patents [grants, titles] of worldly bliss,
Hath no misfortune, but that Rich she it.

Now if I tell you that “Aurora” and “Stella” refer to Lady Penelope Rich, do you see the extended pun on her last name? Notice also that Sidney cannot resist the witty end couplet, although this sonnet is in the Italian style, saying that her only problem is that she is a “Rich”–belonging to someone else–for all of her “riches!” Shakespeare does a similar thing in one of his sonnets, creating and extended pun using his first name, “Will”, an amusing exercise in linguistic gymnastics!

Come back tomorrow for another installment from Chosen of the One, and on Thursday for another edition of the Poet’s Corner. Check out my poetry here.