Thou Blind Man's Mark Essay and Reflection

As the old saying goes, “you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.” But what about the opposite of this subject? Is what we desire really important to us? Sir Philip Sidney explores these conflicting sentiments in his poem “Thou Blind Man’s Mark” through the use of paradox and imagery.

From the very beginning, it’s obvious that the speaker of the poem is not fond of desire. The poem’s title itself shows this; a “blind man’s mark” is, in the literal sense, impossible. This characterizes desire as never being fulfilled and therefore as a folly. Therefore, the paradox shows not only the disdain that the speaker has towards desire, but also the internal conflict that it brings him. The speaker goes on to call desire a “web of will, whose end is never wrought…,” further emphasizing the power of desire. Webs tend to be regarded as very strong, revealing just how strong the speaker’s desire is. Not only that, but the speaker’s desires seem to be unyielding, revealing that perhaps the speaker has attempted to satisfy his desire, only to wind up with more desire. The speaker then notes that “I have too dearly bought... thy worthless ware.” This paradox further emphasizes the conflict within the speaker regarding desire. The speaker has spent quite a bit on what turned out to be nothing, and thus feels remorseful. “Thy worthless ware,” however, also serves another purpose. Because it is not a concrete object, it becomes clear that what the speaker spent is perhaps not just money, but time and peace of mind as well, as though desire is a tax on his mental faculties. The speaker then notes that out of vanity, desire “madest me to vain things aspire.” Thus, not only does the speaker call desire vanity, but also shows its hold on him. The last line of the poem emphasizes completely the conflict raging in the speaker over desire. The speaker desires “naught but how to kill desire.” Clearly, the speaker’s desire to eliminate desire is very strong, but this is simply impossible.

Imagery also plays a large role in crafting the speaker’s internal conflict regarding desire. The speaker calls desire “thou fool’s self-chosen snare,” emphasizing that desire leads ultimately to doom. However, “self-chosen” also implies that desire can be overcome through strong enough willpower. The speaker also calls it a “cradle of causeless care.” The use of the word “cradle” emphasizes innocence because it is connected with childhood. Yet at the same time, the use of “causeless care” emphasizes just how foolish desire is. The speaker also notes that desire “kindlest all they smoky fire,” which conjures up images of smoke. Smoke, of course, makes it very difficult to see, and thus the speaker states that desire is clouding his mind and judgment. The speaker also notes how he paid for desire “with price of mangled mind,” which emphasizes the price he paid for his folly to follow desire, especially because the speaker’s mind should “to higher things aspire.”

The speaker is trying to overcome a fundamental aspect of human nature. Every human has desire, even if it’s for very simple things. The speaker so desperately wants to eliminate desire to make his life virtuous, yet it is simply impossible. Thus, the perpetual problem persists that the speaker desires “naught but how to kill desire.” 


REFLECTION

I found my essay to be rather strong this time around. I felt much more comfortable with the time limit, and I was able to accomplish a lot more than I have with previous essays. Notably, my conclusion was poignant yet short, something I had been aiming for. Not only that, but I felt like my analysis was much stronger for this essay than those prior to it. I was able to see each part of the poem as it related to the overall theme of the poem, and thus I felt I was able to more easily analyze it. This is particularly surprising to me, because poetry tends to be a very weak spot for me. 

Of course, there is always room to improve, and this also is shown by my essay. My opening paragraph definitely could have used a stronger thesis statement. While I got to the point, I definitely could have built up a little more to the thesis rather than just say it and move on. Furthermore, I completely missed that this was a sonnet (well, actually a quatorzain), and therefore completely missed the relevance of the tone shift as it related to the form of the poem. I noticed the tone shift, but was unable to make something of it since I had no idea of its relevance. I also could definitely have analyzed other poetic devices, as many of those that were brought up in the norming process turned out to be rather obvious, yet I completely missed them.

In the future, then, I have three more goals. The first is to create a more well-articulated thesis. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it definitely needs to make use of stronger verbs and to address complexity in a more sophisticated manner than "...complexity is shown by X and Y." Secondly, I definitely need to work on poetic forms. While I know the basics, such as couplets, triplets, and quatrains, I'm totally clueless when these basic forms are combined to create larger works. Lastly, I aim to not be so rigid with my analysis. By this, I mean that I aim to mention other poetic devices as they related to the overall topic of each paragraph, and not to devote entire paragraphs to single devices without mentioning at least one other device. 

These goals will absolutely be paramount to my future success. By writing a stronger thesis, I will be able to more easily structure my essay and organize my thoughts, making the essay writing process even easier. For me, a stronger thesis will consist of strong verbs and addressing complexity, with some build up to the actual thesis itself. By learning more poetic forms, I will be able to more easily identify meaning in poems, which is absolutely something I need to improve upon. Because while I may have seen some of the meaning from this poem, it's really hit-or-miss as to whether or not I see the overall message. By increasing my knowledge of poetic forms, I will be able to notice nuances that are critical to the overall meaning of each poem, such as tone shifts. And lastly, by not being so rigid with my analysis, I will be able to open up my essay to include far more analysis than if I had selected just two literary devices and stuck with them the whole way through. Each poem is going to make use of more than two rhetorical devices, and therefore I should aim to notice at least four different ones per poem, or at least two per paragraph of analysis.