A Midsummer's Day Figurative Language

Sir Philip Sidney, though not as influential in his daily life, was an effective poet, and an attentive scholar. He was born on the 30th of November in 1554, and died on the 17th of October in 1586 from a wound sustained in a minor skirmish (Biography.com). During his short life, Sidney served as an ambassador to the Queen of England, wrote several poems which were influential to great writers, including William Shakespeare himself, and even received a knighthood in 1583, three years before his death. Because of the schooling he received, his life and poetry were unique to him, for without it he would not have had the knowledge he needed to make such effective use of allusion as he did.
From the time he was nine years old, Philip attended Shrewsbury …show more content…
The subject is being compared to the gods of Roman mythology, and Sidney even goes so far as to call her smooth, mild, and fair. The other stanzas of this poem follow this same pattern, the poet praising the traits of his subject and comparing the traits to those of precious stones such as opal and sapphire, as seen in the third stanza. This was not an uncommon thing in the sixteenth century, even Shakespeare is known for comparing a woman to “A midsummer’s day” in one of his more famous sonnets. However, unlike a gentle summer day, the comparisons made in this poem are far less obvious to the average reader due to their dependance on a previous knowledge of the legends and gems to which Sidney chooses to …show more content…
However, with the knowledge of the mythology to which Sidney is alluding within the poem, the reader can see the true intent much more clearly. With each of the statements in the second and third stanza, Sidney makes a comparison, almost all of which are seen as insulting with the prior knowledge of the roman belief system and the properties of the gemstones to which he compares his subject’s features. One such example has already been highlighted: “...like fair Venus chaste,” which is a direct contradiction. Chastity, or abstaining from sexual intercourse outside of marriage, was never a trait of Venus, who was the roman emblem of sexuality. Similarly, stating that a woman is “as smooth as Pan” would be entirely contradictory because of the coarse goat fur which covers the lower half of the deity’s body. Another poem which makes some use of these two themes is “The Nightingale,” a two stanza poem depicting Sidney’s grief at being unable to be with a lover that he admires. In it, the poet once again makes use of allusion to ancient mythology, referring to the story of Philomela, a young maiden who was raped and imprisoned by a man named Tereus (Student Writing Center). Sidney emphasizes what he feels to be his plight in these last few lines of the