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"A Crown* of Sonnets Dedicated to Love"
from
PAMPHILIA TO AMPHILANTHUS
Lady Mary Wroth
The "crown" is a complex poetic form, in which the last line of each poem serves as the first line of the next poem, until a circle is completed by the last line of the final poem, which is the same as the first line of the sequence. It was originally an Italian form that could be used to praise or condemn (and is often known by its Italian name, corona); various kinds of poems could be used for the sequence, with the number of poems ranging from seven to fourteen (as in Wroth's crown of fourteen sonnets).
Sonnet 77 is the first of the crown. The sonnets 77 to 90 from "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" include the Crown. We review three sonnets of the crown here.
Sonnet 77 is the first of the crown. The sonnets 77 to 90 from "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" include the Crown. We review three sonnets of the crown here.
sonnet 77
In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn?
Ways are on all sides, while the way I miss:
If to the right hand, there in love I burn;
Let me[1] go forward, therein danger is;
If to the left, suspicion hinders bliss,
Let me turn back, shame cries I ought return,
Nor faint,[2] though crosses[3] with my fortunes kiss;
Stand still is harder, although sure to[4] mourn.
Thus let me take the right, or left hand way,
Go forward, or stand still, or back retire:
I must these doubts endure without allay[5]
Or help, but travail find for my best hire.[6]
Yet that which most my troubled sense doth move,
Is to leave all and take the thread of Love.[7]
1- I.e., if I
2- Lose heart; Wroth occasionally uses "nor" without including other negatives.
3- trouble, adversity
4- to make me
5- alleviation
6- I.e., I find hard labor (or suffering) to be the reward for my best efforts. Instead of "traveile" (Folger Library manuscript), the 1621 edition prints "travell."
7- An allusion to the Greek myth in which Ariadne, defying her father, gave Theseus a thread to unwind behind him in the labyrinth at Crete. After killing the Minotaur, he was able to find his way out by following the thread; shortly thereafter, he abandoned Ariadne.
sonnet 78
Is to leave all and take the thread of Love,
Which line straight leads unto the soul's content,
Where choice delights with pleasure's wings do move,
And idle fant'sy never room had lent.[1]
When chaste thoughts guide us, then our minds are bent
To take that good which ills from us remove:
Light of true love brings fruit which none repent;
But constant lovers seek and wish to prove.[2]
Love is the shining star of blessing's light,
The fervent fire of zeal, the root of peace,
The lasting lamp, fed with the oil of right,
Image of faith, and womb for joy's increase.[3]
Love is true virtue, and his end's delight,
His flames are joys, his bands true lover's might.[4]
1- I.e., where room or space had never been loaned to idle fantasy.
2- try
3- children
4- I.e., Love's bands are the strength of true lovers, and not their shackles.
In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn?
Ways are on all sides, while the way I miss:
If to the right hand, there in love I burn;
Let me[1] go forward, therein danger is;
If to the left, suspicion hinders bliss,
Let me turn back, shame cries I ought return,
Nor faint,[2] though crosses[3] with my fortunes kiss;
Stand still is harder, although sure to[4] mourn.
Thus let me take the right, or left hand way,
Go forward, or stand still, or back retire:
I must these doubts endure without allay[5]
Or help, but travail find for my best hire.[6]
Yet that which most my troubled sense doth move,
Is to leave all and take the thread of Love.[7]
1- I.e., if I
2- Lose heart; Wroth occasionally uses "nor" without including other negatives.
3- trouble, adversity
4- to make me
5- alleviation
6- I.e., I find hard labor (or suffering) to be the reward for my best efforts. Instead of "traveile" (Folger Library manuscript), the 1621 edition prints "travell."
7- An allusion to the Greek myth in which Ariadne, defying her father, gave Theseus a thread to unwind behind him in the labyrinth at Crete. After killing the Minotaur, he was able to find his way out by following the thread; shortly thereafter, he abandoned Ariadne.
sonnet 78
Is to leave all and take the thread of Love,
Which line straight leads unto the soul's content,
Where choice delights with pleasure's wings do move,
And idle fant'sy never room had lent.[1]
When chaste thoughts guide us, then our minds are bent
To take that good which ills from us remove:
Light of true love brings fruit which none repent;
But constant lovers seek and wish to prove.[2]
Love is the shining star of blessing's light,
The fervent fire of zeal, the root of peace,
The lasting lamp, fed with the oil of right,
Image of faith, and womb for joy's increase.[3]
Love is true virtue, and his end's delight,
His flames are joys, his bands true lover's might.[4]
1- I.e., where room or space had never been loaned to idle fantasy.
2- try
3- children
4- I.e., Love's bands are the strength of true lovers, and not their shackles.
sonnet 90
Except[1] my heart, which you bestow'd before,
And for a sign of Conquest gave away
As worthless to be kept in your choice store;[2]
Yet one more spotless with you doth not stay.
The tribute which my heart doth truly pay,
Is faith untouch'd, pure thoughts discharge the score
Of[3] debts for me, where Constancy bears sway,
And rules as Lord, unharm'd by envy's sore,
Yet other mischiefs fail not to attend,
As enimies to you, my foes must be,[4]
Curst[5] jealousy doth all her forces bend
To my undoing, thus my harms I see.
So though in Love I fervently doe burn,
In this strange Labyrinth how shall I turn?[6]
And for a sign of Conquest gave away
As worthless to be kept in your choice store;[2]
Yet one more spotless with you doth not stay.
The tribute which my heart doth truly pay,
Is faith untouch'd, pure thoughts discharge the score
Of[3] debts for me, where Constancy bears sway,
And rules as Lord, unharm'd by envy's sore,
Yet other mischiefs fail not to attend,
As enimies to you, my foes must be,[4]
Curst[5] jealousy doth all her forces bend
To my undoing, thus my harms I see.
So though in Love I fervently doe burn,
In this strange Labyrinth how shall I turn?[6]
1- In the seventeenth century, "except' some times meant "accept" or "receive".
2- I.e., unworthy to be kept in your excellent collection.
3- discharge the score / Of : requite.
4- Though they (the forces of lealousy) "attend" (wait upon) her, they are enemies to her love and she regards them as foes.
5- Malignant.
6- The sonnet's final line repeats the forst line of sonnet 77, thus completing the circular structure that contains the labyrinth.
2- I.e., unworthy to be kept in your excellent collection.
3- discharge the score / Of : requite.
4- Though they (the forces of lealousy) "attend" (wait upon) her, they are enemies to her love and she regards them as foes.
5- Malignant.
6- The sonnet's final line repeats the forst line of sonnet 77, thus completing the circular structure that contains the labyrinth.
comments' source: The NORTON Anthology of Poetry; 5th ed.; 2005.