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I've noticed that in several Elizabethan sonnet sequences, when the sonneteer desires to refer to themselves in the title of a sonnet, they always do so in the third person. This is especially noticeable in Henry Constable's "Diana":

Of his mistress, upon occasion of a friend of his which dissuaded him from loving

A friend of mine, pitying my hopeless love,
Hoping by killing hope my love to stay,
"Let not," quoth he, "thy hope, thy heart betray;
Impossible it is her heart to move."
But sith resolvèd love cannot remove
As long as thy divine perfections stay,
Thy godhead then he sought to take away.
Dear, seek revenge and him a liar prove;
Gods only do impossibilities.
"Impossible," saith he, "thy grace to gain."
Show then the power of divinities
By granting me thy favour to obtain.
So shall thy foe give to himself the lie;
A goddess thou shall prove, and happy I!

Page image (alternate version)

Why didn't he write "Of my mistress, upon occasion of a friend of mine which dissuaded me from loving?"

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    Similarly, Milton's poem often known as On his Blindness was published by him as Sonnet 19.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Oct 9 at 7:22
  • Did you also notice, the sonneteer desired to refer not to 'themselves' but to 'himself', which 'he' always does?
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Commented Oct 22 at 21:56
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    Someone removed my comment. Here it is again: in the page link, the words you cite are in square brackets. Those words were written by an editor, not by the poet. In the actual poem, he uses first person.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 23 at 19:29
  • Ok, in the original link pictured on this page, we could see the square brackets. Now, it's a link.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:27
  • @Santhosh: Can you give an example of another sonnet sequence, not by Henry Constable, where this occurs? Then we would know it's a general tendency of Elizabethan poets, and not an idiosyncratic tendency of Constable.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Oct 27 at 15:19

1 Answer 1

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Broadly because however ludicrous it seems to modern eyes or ears, the conceit of Elizabethan times still followed the rituals of medieval 'romantic love' though neither the 'romance' nor the 'love' came close to any modern definition.

More simply, that style is a sophisticated version of 'It's not for me, you understand; it's for my friend…'

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  • You don't seem to answer the question...
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 23 at 19:32
  • Thanks, Lambie, and why would you say that? What did I suggest, that you doubt?
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:18
  • You don't answer the bit about using the third person. Look at my comment above.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:24
  • Sorry my Answer was so short and if the first par didn't work, how did 'It's not for me, you understand; it's for my friend…' fail? Does 'my friend' not take 'him' or 'his' in your book?
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:31
  • Now, I'm sorry. :) The OP thinks: Of his mistress, upon occasion of a friend of his which dissuaded him from loving. is a title written by the poet. And that was clear before the image was relegated to being the second link.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 25 at 19:34

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