Analysis Of The Poem Thou Blind Man's Mark

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In the poem “Thou Blind Man’s Mark”, by Sir Philip Sidney, Sidney discusses his hatred of desire, and explains the inner struggle he feels to free himself from desire’s temptations. The speaker characterizes desire as a compelling force, one that is able to take control of someone’s thoughts. The speaker’s disdain for desire is shown through his rigid description of desire, and the ways it affects him, as well as the poem’s final conclusion, where the speaker decides he will no longer succumb to the power desire has over him. The poem opens with strong diction in its many negative phrases, which paint desire in a negative light right away. In line 1, the speaker calls desire a “blind man’s mark”. By saying blind, the speaker does not literally