Thou Blind Man s Mark Analysis
“Thou Blind Man’s Mark” Analysis
Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” conveys desire and the path of destruction that develops alongside it.
The speaker’s harsh attitude towards desire can be associated with the foolishness it brings out, and the evils that his desires have brought upon him
,
in which he regrets. Desire brings madness upon people. The tone of this poem is essentially the same as the attitude of the speaker; they both present bitterness. Sidney creates tone with the use of diction and literary devices. He utilizes poetic devices including personification, irony, and also the use of tone, paradox, and diction. These techniques give a representation of how the writer feels about desire. The first three lines of the poem include some paradox and irony. The opening line, “Thou blind man’s mark, thou fool’s selfchosen snare…” reflects Sidney’s ridiculous impression of desire. Sidney opens the poem like this because he wants to emphasize the feeling of desire’s complications.
Next, from the 5th line to the 8th line, the poet is complaining that while trying to accomplish a foolish task, he wasted his time. "I have too dearly bought,/With price of mangled mind, thy worthless ware." Basically means, "I paid for my desires by driving myself crazy". A
"mangled mind" is one that is close to going crazy or also known as to having a “twisted mind”.
The other harsh terms Sidney uses throughout the rest of the poem such as “dregs of scattered thought”, “Band of all evils”, “worthless ware”, “thy smoky fire”, and the repetition of the phrase “in vain” is directed towards desire, as if it were human and, He uses, (“In vain”), the theme that desire made him act foolish but in return it was for nothing and no gain made out of it. Also, the personification Sidney uses shows as if desire is a devilish man, giving him
something to have hate towards. In the last couplet, paradox is used. The speaker shows interest in just
Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” conveys desire and the path of destruction that develops alongside it.
The speaker’s harsh attitude towards desire can be associated with the foolishness it brings out, and the evils that his desires have brought upon him
,
in which he regrets. Desire brings madness upon people. The tone of this poem is essentially the same as the attitude of the speaker; they both present bitterness. Sidney creates tone with the use of diction and literary devices. He utilizes poetic devices including personification, irony, and also the use of tone, paradox, and diction. These techniques give a representation of how the writer feels about desire. The first three lines of the poem include some paradox and irony. The opening line, “Thou blind man’s mark, thou fool’s selfchosen snare…” reflects Sidney’s ridiculous impression of desire. Sidney opens the poem like this because he wants to emphasize the feeling of desire’s complications.
Next, from the 5th line to the 8th line, the poet is complaining that while trying to accomplish a foolish task, he wasted his time. "I have too dearly bought,/With price of mangled mind, thy worthless ware." Basically means, "I paid for my desires by driving myself crazy". A
"mangled mind" is one that is close to going crazy or also known as to having a “twisted mind”.
The other harsh terms Sidney uses throughout the rest of the poem such as “dregs of scattered thought”, “Band of all evils”, “worthless ware”, “thy smoky fire”, and the repetition of the phrase “in vain” is directed towards desire, as if it were human and, He uses, (“In vain”), the theme that desire made him act foolish but in return it was for nothing and no gain made out of it. Also, the personification Sidney uses shows as if desire is a devilish man, giving him
something to have hate towards. In the last couplet, paradox is used. The speaker shows interest in just