She never dies, but lasteth
In life of lover's heart;
He ever dies that wasteth
In love his chiefest part.

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Who Hath His Fancy Pleased (l. 9-12). . . Poets of the English Language, Vols. I-V. Vol. I: Langland to Spenser; Vol. II: Marlowe to Marvell; Vol. III: Milton to Goldsmith; Vol. IV: Blake to Poe; Vol. V: Tennyson to Yeats. W. H. Auden and Norman Holmes Pearson, eds. (1950) The Viking Press.)

Let here his eyes be raised
On Nature's sweetest light;

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Who Hath His Fancy Pleased (l. 3-4). . . Poets of the English Language, Vols. I-V. Vol. I: Langland to Spenser; Vol. II: Marlowe to Marvell; Vol. III: Milton to Goldsmith; Vol. IV: Blake to Poe; Vol. V: Tennyson to Yeats. W. H. Auden and Norman Holmes Pearson, eds. (1950) The Viking Press.)

I on my horse, and Love on me, doth try
Our horsemanships, while by strange work I prove
A horseman to my horse, a horse to Love,

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. XLIX, l. 1-3). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

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:

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. I, l. 1-5). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

Thou blind man's mark, thou fool's self-chosen snare,
Fond Fancy's scum and dregs of scattered thought,
Band of all evils, cradle of causeless care,
Thou web of will whose end is never wrought;
Desire! desire, I have too dearly bought
With price of mangled mind thy worthless ware;

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Thou Blind Man's Mark (l. 1-6). . . Norton Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. M. H. Abrams, general ed. (5th ed., 1986) W. W. Norton & Company.)

True, that true beauty virtue is indeed,
Whereof this beauty can be but a shade,
Which elements with mortal mixture breed.
True, that on earth we are but pilgrims made,
And should in soul up to our country move.
True, and yet true that I must Stella love.

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. V, l. 9-14). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

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!"

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. I, l. 12-14). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

Highway, since you my chief Parnassus be,
And that my Muse, to some ears not unsweet,
Tempers her words to trampling horses' feet
More oft than to a chamber-melody,

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. LXXXIV, l. 1-4). . . Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New ed., rev. and enl., 1939) Oxford University Press.)

Then farewell, world; thy uttermost I see;
Eternal Love, maintain thy life in me.

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Frr. CX, l. 13-14). . . New Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. (1972) Oxford University Press.)

"But ah," Desire still cries, "give me some food."

(Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), British poet. Sonnets (Fr. LXXI, l. 14). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)