Thou Blind Man's Mark Figurative Language

In Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” the speaker addresses the subject of desire through a series of poetic devices. The speaker believes that desire leads to foolishness. But if one desires to eliminate desire, then that desire is virtuous, not foolish. Sidney utilizes figurative language, repetition and anaphora throughout the poem to express his complex thoughts on desire. At the start of the poem, Sidney uses the visual metaphors to describe his view of what desire is. The first line of the poem depicts how the speaker believes that desire leads to foolishness. He uses the poem title in the opening line, “Thou blind man’s mark” along with “fool’s self chosen snare”(1) to emphasize his thoughts. A blind man would have no need for a mark and only a foolish one would feel the desire for a mark. The second part of the line more directly shows the speaker’s thoughts as he says “fool” straight away in the line. Then he continues to insult the idea of desire by conjuring up an image of desire as a filthy spider’s web that only leads to sinful and reckless behavior by saying “fond fancy’s scum . . . band of all evils, cradle of causeless care”(2-3). In the next line, Sidney writes “thou web of will, whose end is never wrought”(4). He explains that …show more content…
He writes “In vain thou kindlest all thy smoky fire”(11) to further the theme of a “blind man’s mark”. Writing “smoky fire” conjures up an image of a billowing and smoking fire, which would burn one’s eyes and blur one’s vision, leaving one almost blind. The last three lines of the poem show illustrate how Sidney’s view of desire is ironic. He writes how virtue has led him to his only job: to rid himself of desire. Since he knows his job, he now desires nothing but “to kill desire”(14). Through this irony, the speaker shows the audience just how complex his thoughts on desire