Comparison Of Loving In Truth 'And Jordan'

While Philip Sidney’s “Loving in Truth” and George Herbert’s “Jordan (II)” are two different forms of poetry, they both convey a very similar idea. Interestingly, in both situations, the speakers tell a story of their inability to express their true feelings and declare their love while they try to overcome their own expectations that their writing must be held up to a particular standard. However, these poems deal with the expression of love in two different ways, “Loving in Truth” deals with the struggles of a man trying to earn the love of a woman, while “Jordan (II)” focuses on the struggles of a man trying to express his devotion to God. In the end, both speakers reach the conclusion that their writing must come from the heart in order

The speaker in “Loving in Truth” hopes that, through his writing, a woman will fall for him. In a way, this can be seen as a selfish love as the speaker is writing for the sole purpose of winning the love of the woman in question. The speaker spends his time “turning others leaves” (1. 7) in an attempt to gather inspiration for his own writing, which he hopes will be a masterpiece of hyperbole and emotion that will ensnare the heart of the reader and make her fall for him through his masterful storytelling. However, all of these works seem foreign to him and while constantly sifting through the works of others, he loses the true intention of his writing. This hopeless attempt at taking the heart of another is a great contrast with “Jordan (II)”, which focuses on a man giving his heart away. The speaker is only hoping to express his “heavenly joys” (1. 1) and to give his love to God whilst wishing for nothing in return. While Sidney’s work depicts a selfish love, this is a much more selfless love in comparison because the intention of the speaker is for the world to understand how deep his devotion is without expecting a reward for his efforts. The devotion runs deep, even to the point where he will criticize his work meticulously because, in his mind, nothing is good enough. “Nothing could seem too rich to clothe the sun” (1. 11) and it almost

Invention has fled from both of these men at every turn and now, helpless in their throws, they are now coming to the realization that they will never be able to express themselves if they don’t allow these words to come from the heart. “Looke in thy heart and write” (1. 14) the speaker’s muse says to him in the conclusive line of “Loving in Truth” as the speaker understands that it will not be the words that have come from a thousand books that win a woman’s heart but it will be the words that come from his emotions that will be what earns him this love. Similarly, the speaker for “Jordan (II)” also comes to this conclusion after hearing the whisperings of a friend. “There is in love a sweetness ready penned” is what he is told and it is the truth, the words that speak the most highly of others and the most modestly of one’s self are words that come from love. If you truly love another, you will always treat them as though they were high above you, like a God looking down at you, and it is this understanding that allows the speaker to finally come to terms with his own devotion. It is this understanding that allows both speakers to finally unravel their thoughts and express their true feelings for those that they love without