The Nightingale (Philip Sidney poem) Literary Elements

First-person speaker of the poem

two-stanza poem with each containing twelve lines, mixed rhyme: first four lines ABAB, next four lines BAAB, last four lines CCAA; irregular meter and line length

The singing nightingale—a symbol for Philomela—is also a metaphor for women's pain. Women, the speaker suggests, are openly able to express their emotions, especially pain.

In this poem, "earth" is a metaphor for man and woman's emotional state. Sidney begins the poem in spring, a time when the nightingale's spirits should brighten as the world around her is restored and renewed. In contrast, he states that his own earth—his own emotional landscape—is permanently blighted.

"Thy thorn without, my thorn my heart invadeth."
-repetition of /ð/

The poem is structured by a central dramatic irony: the speaker's use of song form belies his argument that he is unable to express his pain, leading the reader to see the opposite meaning that he himself intends.

lyric poetry

A spring day, retelling events related to characters from Greek mythology

gloomy, mournful, self-pitying

Protagonist: Nightingale (Philomela), the speaker; Antagonist: Tereus

The poem begins after the results of a prior conflict: Philomela has been turned into a nightingale after her rape by Tereus.

The poem itself does not have a conflict, per say, but the speaker does suffer from inner turmoil due to his belief that he is unable to adequately express his suffering.

Crying out "O Philomela," the speaker of the poem concludes that his woe is more significant than that of Philomela because she had too much, and he is left wanting. The speaker of the poem concludes that the rape of Philomela was nothing more than love "on her by strong hand wroken," whilst he was unable to experience love at all, or to express his suffering.

The entire poem is used to understate the issue of rape against women, calling it "love" and suggesting it is less painful than a man's unfulfilled longing.

The poem alludes to the myth of Philomela from Greek mythology

"While late bare earth, proud of new clothing, springeth" (line 3). Spring is said to be "proud."

The nightingale is part-symbol, part-personification, as the bird is also a woman.

"my thorn my heart invadeth" is twice used to express the grief of unrequited love.