The Sidney Psalter

by Philip Sidney, Mary Sidney, Hannibal Hamlin (Editor)

Among the most accomplished lyrics of the English Renaissance, The Sidney Psalter influenced poets from Donne and Herbert to Milton and beyond. It turned the well-known biblical psalms into sophisticated verse, selecting or inventing a different stanza form for each one. This variety of forms matches the appeal of their content--making them suitable for every occasion, for public worship and private devotion--and their lyrical virtuosity appeals to any poetry lover. The first complete edition of the Sidney Psalter for over forty years, this new volume makes these beautiful poems available in an authoritative modernized text drawn from the definitive Oxford editions of the two poets. Hannibal Hamlin's excellent Introduction considers the poems' astonishing mastery of verse forms and describes the literary and social contexts from which they came. On-page glosses explain unfamiliar words or usages, and fuller explanatory notes summarize each psalm and provide further background information. The book also includes an up-to-date bibliography and chronology.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Renaissance, Religion, Christian, Literature, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2009

About the author

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent literary figures of the Elizabethan Age.

Reviews

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

You may notice that when you search for this book here, or otherwise, that Philip Sidney's name comes first, or as only. But in reality, the majority of these reworked poems of the Psalms are the work of his sister, Mary (who though marriage is related to George Herbet, a distant cousin). Philip had finished, or partially-finished, only the first 43 psalms, and Mary did the rest. Her part was ignored much in Victorian times, but should be noted these days.

How many mounting wingèd tree
For traffic leave retiring land
And on huge waters busied be,
Which bankless flows on endless sand!
These, these indeed, well understand,
Informed by their fear-open eye,
The wonders of Jehovah's hand
While on the waves they rocking lie. (Psalm 107)

Here are the Psalms of the Old Testament of the Bible, turned into poetic forms of various styles, some quite delightfully clever (Psalm 55 is given a detailed look as an example in the Introduction). The result was read widely in manuscript form (of which 18 still exist), only printed first in 19th Century. It was a great influence on poets, and John Donne wrote a intro poem for it (Mary wrote the other two). There are helpful glosses and notes, a note on emendations, and a chronology of the siblings' life.
Peter wrote many other things also, and equally clever Mary worked some translations also. They lived in the time of Elizabeth I, Mary having a better luck in life than Peter (who died at 32 of gangrenous wound).

I liked getting to know some old words from their time, and some psalms stood out particularly well, like 111 being an A to U poem, 117 with its first letters of each sentence spelling their own sentence, and 119 using non-Hebrew alphabets. The Notes after the Psalms speak first generally about what each psalm is about, then explain further some meanings within each that each poet has used, or what their sources have said.

An undefilèd course who leadeth,
And in Jehovah's doctrine treadeth,
How blessed he!
How blest they be
Who still his testimonies keeping,
Do seek him with hearty seeking. (Psalm 119)

I think that one might enjoy these poems best if reading slowly, taking time to enjoy each poem-psalm, because otherwise they might blur, though they are good. This was an interesting read, and as each psalm was a poem of different type (and Psalm 119 had a different style for each alphabet's part), reading was never boring.

[Qedus · Rating 5 out of 5]

God very nearly worked His way into my hardened, heathenish heart; all it took was the flawless verse of a renaissant, bisexual courtier.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

much like the book of psalms itself this is slow going (i've been reading it in bursts over about six months) simply because the constant reiteration of the same subject gets very boring very quickly, despite the pleasure of the poetic form

[J. Alfred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Which is better: "I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest," or "Thus therefore unto them I swear/ (I angry can no more forbear):/ 'The rest for you I did ordain,/ I will so work you never shall obtain'"? Everyone agreed? Right.
This is the danger of trying to turn the Psalms into metrical English. And yet, this collection is really remarkable in that it often avoids this metronome-dominated nonsense to produce really powerful paraphrases of the scriptural verses, doing so at the same time it demonstrates some of the most wildly varied versification I've ever encountered. Normally when somebody says that, we're talking about anapests and whatnot, but nope, this is just iambs and trochees, rhyming in every stanza imaginable, and some that aren't. Sometimes, of course, this produces monstrosities, but again, a surprising amount of really impressive stuff in here.
"Oh, come, behold, oh note beholding/ What dreadful wonders from him flow" is worthy of a Miltonic song.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siblings Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) and Mary Sidney Herbert(1561-1621), Countess of Pembroke, set the Psalms to sophisticated verse, selecting or inventing a different meter or stanza form for each psalm. Their primary intent was to create a fundamentally literary work demonstrating the lyric possibilities of English poetry. Philip completed Psalms 1-43 with Mary completing the remaining 107 psalms after his death. She was the first English woman to be widely celebrated as literary patron and writer. The Sydney Psalter was acknowledged in its own time as one of the masterpieces of English Renaissance poetry. Edmund Spenser, John Donne, George Herbert, and John Milton praised it in print, and also put their praise into practice by imitating the Sydney psalms and borrowing from them in their own poems. Passed down through handwritten manuscripts over the years, it was not printed until the nineteenth century.

Psalm 117
P raise him that aye
R emains the same:
A ll tongues display
I ehovah‘s fame.
S ing all that share
T his earthly ball:
H is mercies are.
E xposed to all,
L ike as the word
O nce he doth give,
R olled in record,
D oth time outlive.

[David Bisset · Rating 4 out of 5]

I intend to continue to read through the Book of Psalms in the elegant translations of Philip and his sister Mary. This fruit of the English Renaissance has been disgracefully neglected. Mary Sidney merits a high ranking among female poets.

[Jake Theriot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read excerpts.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know this was a pretty routine task, but still infinitely worth it. Philip with some truly lively fun stuff. Not a word is wasted in his poems. Mary, though less compact, truly deserves credit for finishing the project and not losing the playfulness that sinks in these poems.

Favorites: Psalms 13, 42, 74, and 78. Still, I only ran through them and it felt like a scan, so I have jolly well got to read these again. Great way to begin the year.

[Bobbi Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many beautiful renditions of the Psalms. The Sidneys were masters of (usually) great with wordchoice as well. Lots of clever alliteration, metaphor, and effective line breaks. Occasional awkward or unnatural grammatical structures are basically my only beef with their work.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a good introduction showing how the Sidneys had read Calvin and other reformation writing to translate the psalms, we have here all 150 psalms translated into poetry, a different poetic form for each psalm!

[Brent Pinkall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sidney Psalter is known for its influence on English poetry, and for that it should be praised. Personally, it feels a bit too metrical and stiff. That said, the fact that each psalm is written in a different meter and form makes for an enjoyable read overall.

[Alistair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful poetry; less wonderful translation. These psalms also suffer a lack of something indescribable when it comes to reading them as devotional works, which is a pity as the poetry truly is excellent.

[Matthew Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good to read an unfamiliar translation of the Psalms, so that familiar things can strike you differently, and make you check the Psalms again because you didn't remember that being there.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great. Psalm intensity, high poetry. Recommended.