See the Introduction to this presentation of early poems by Edward de Vere. Click here to go to the next poem or the previous poem in the series. All the poems, and a printable pdf version of the entire presentation, may also be accessed from the Introduction. See also Note on Sources, Titles, and Presentation of Parallels, Key to Abbreviations, and Bibliography of Works Cited.
Poem No. 15: “Who Taught Thee First to Sigh?”
1 Who taught thee first to sigh, alas, my heart?
2 Who taught thy tongue the woeful words of plaint?
3 Who filled thine eyes with tears of bitter smart?
4 Who gave thee grief and made thy joys so faint?
[echo] Love
5 Who first did print with colours pale thy face?
6 Who first did break thy sleeps of quiet rest?
7 Above the rest in Court, who gave thee Grace?
8 Who made thee strive in virtue to be best?
[echo] Love
9 In constant troth to bide so firm and sure,
10 To scorn the world, regarding but thy friend,
11 With patient mind each passion to endure,
12 In one desire to settle to thy end?
[echo] Love
13 Love then thy choice, wherein such faith doth bind,
14 As nought but death may ever change thy mind.
Textual sources: No. 15 was first published in The Tears of Fancy (1593) and is also preserved in various manuscripts, including Harleian MS 7392(2) (British Library) and Rawlinson MS 85 (Bodleian Library, Oxford University). See Hannah (242, text not provided); Grosart (413); Looney (1921, 4, Miller ed. 1975, 1: 562); May (#15) (1980, 37, 78, 121; 1991, 281).
No. 15’s date of composition is uncertain, but likely no later than the mid-1580s, when the relevant MSS began to be transcribed. It could easily have been written well before then. May (1991, 270) commented generally that “[t]here is little reason” to date any of these de Vere poems “later than the 1580s.”
Structure: Sonnet (in classical Shakespearean form, with three internal echoes).
Looney’s title: “Love Thy Choice”
Past commentaries on parallels: Ogburn (512-13); Sobran (258-59); Brazil & Flues.
Clarification of the text:
(9) The word troth is an archaic term for “truth,” also signifying solemnly pledged faith, loyalty, or constancy (OED 17: 587-88).
Strongest parallels to No. 15:
(1) Who taught thee first to sigh, alas, my heart?
‘Who taught thee how to make me love thee more … ?’ (Sonnets, 150.9).
Both samples employ the identical phrase (Who taught thee?) in exactly the same context—a rhetorical question asking about the origins of the speaker’s love for another. In both there is a kind of sweet chiding over the beloved’s responsibility for inspiring the lover’s desire.
(2) Who taught thy tongue the woeful words of plaint?
‘And if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach’ (Rich. II, 5.3.113); ‘To teach my tongue to be so long’ (Pass. Pilg., 18.52); cf. ‘Those eyes that taught all other eyes to see’ (Venus, 952); ‘How angerly I taught my brow to frown’ (Two Gent., 1.2.62); ‘And teach your ears to list me with more heed’ (Errors, 4.1.101); ‘Teach not thy lip such scorn’ (Rich. III, 1.2.171); ‘my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute’ (Rich. III, 4.4.18); ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!’ (R&J, 1.5.44).
The parallel here is not merely the verb teach/taught but its specific, playful, metaphorical use as applied to the tongue or other body parts or inanimate objects.
(8-9) Who made thee strive in virtue to be best? … In constant troth to bide so firm and sure
‘I did strive to prove The constancy and virtue of your love’ (Sonnets, 117.13-14); ‘Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy’ (Sonnets, 152.10); cf. ‘though thou stand’st more sure than I could do, Thou art not firm enough’ (2 Hen. IV, 4.5.202-03); ‘That ’gainst the stream of virtue they may strive’ (Timon, 4.1.27); ‘so firm, so constant’ (Tem., 1.2.207).
One signification of the word troth, as noted above, is solemnly pledged faith, loyalty, or constancy.
Additional parallels to No. 15:
(2) woeful words
‘As if they heard the woeful words they told’ (Venus, 1126).
(3) tears of bitter smart
‘bitter tears’ (Titus, 3.1.6, 129).
(4-5) Who gave thee grief and made thy joys to faint? … Who first did print with colours pale thy face?
‘Affection faints not like a pale-faced coward’ (Venus, 569); cf. ‘As burning fevers, ague, pale and faint’ (Venus, 739).
(6) break thy sleeps of quiet rest
‘break not your sleeps for that’ (Ham., 4.7.30); cf. ‘broke their sleep’ (2 Hen. IV, 4.5.68; Cor., 4.4.19); ‘one quiet breath of rest’ (John, 3.4.134); ‘God give you quiet rest tonight’ (Rich. III, 5.3.43); ‘Romeo should … Soon sleep in quiet’ (R&J, 3.5.99-100).
See also No. 18b.15 (I break no sleep).
(11) With patient mind each passion to endure
‘God of his mercy give You patience to endure’ (Hen. V, 2.2.180); ‘have patience and endure’ (Much, 4.1.254); ‘endure the toothache patiently’ (Much, 5.1.36); ‘I must have patience to endure the load’ (Rich. III, 3.7.230); ‘I must have patience to endure all this’ (Titus, 2.3.88); ‘I have the patience to endure it now’ (Caes., 4.3.192).
Continue to Poem No. 16, return to Poem No. 14, or return to the Introduction.
[published June 22, 2018, updated 2021]
