Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” addresses desire and its ruinous ways. In conveying the speaker’s complex and bitter attitude toward desire, Sidney employs poetic devices including paradox, tone, and a specific diction. These and other techniques (such as personification and irony) complete the speaker’s portrayal of desire and his feelings about it.
The first three lines of the poem include some paradox and irony. Consider the opening line, “Thou blind man’s mark, thou fool’s self-chosen snare…” Such nonsensical descriptions reflect the speaker’s nonsensical impression of desire. Sidney has opened the poem with such lines to emphasize the complicated and rather backward nature of that feeling called desire. At the end is another instance of paradox. The speaker claims to desire nothing but the knowledge of how to kill desire itself.
Sidney’s harsh diction also holds a key to understanding the speaker’s complex attitude. Not only can one note the ironic and contradicting choice of words in the beginning, but also the harsh terms employed throughout the rest of the poem. He uses terms such as “worthless ware,” “thy smoky fire,” “mangled mind,” and repeats the phrase “in vain,” directing these at desire as though it were human. This personification is also essential to the delivering of the speaker’s attitude. He addresses desire as though it were a devilish man, giving him something besides an abstract idea to direct his animosity towards.
The tone of this poem is noteworthy, because it basically is the attitude of the speaker; in this case, it is quite bitter. Sidney creates said tone with his diction and literary devices; lines like, “I have too dearly bought,/With price of mangled mind, they worthless ware;” are good indicators of tone, as well.
Sir Philip Sidney reveals his speaker’s acrimonious attitude quite effectively through his tone, choice in words, and techniques. Paradox and personification were important techniques in establishing the speaker’s voice and mood. Desire appears to be an incensing sentiment to the speaker, as a result of the poetic devices that the author chooses.