Sonet
Fra bank to bank, fra wood to wood I rin,
Ourhailit with my feeble fantasie;
Like til a leaf that fallis from a tree,
Or til a reed ourblawin with the win.
Twa gods guides me: the ane of tham is blin,
Yea and a bairn brocht up in vanitie;
The next a wife ingenrit of the sea,
And lichter nor a dauphin with her fin.
Unhappy is the man for evermair
That tills the sand and sawis in the air;
But twice unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis in his hairt a mad desire,
And follows on a woman throw the fire,
Led by a blind and teachit by a bairn.
History
In his lifetime, Boyd was known as a writer for his Latin poems, not for Scots verse. While 'Sonet' was printed – or, at least, set in type – during the sixteenth century, it was clearly not published in any significant way. Only one early printed text survives: a proof sheet (c. 1590) pasted to the flyleaf of a copy of Lord Ormond's Histoire abbregee de tous les roys de France, Angleterre et Escosse (1579), now held by the National Library of Scotland. This text is also the original source for attribution of the sonnet to Boyd, whose name has been written on it by hand. (See the Copac records for Mark Alexander Boyd.)
The poem waited until the twentieth century to be rediscovered. It was first brought to public attention by Arthur Quiller-Couch, who included it in the Oxford Book of English Verse (1900). In his preface to this anthology, Quiller-Couch thanked 'Miss Boyd of Penkill Castle, who has added to her kindness by allowing me to include an unpublished "Sonet" by her sixteenth-century ancestor'
. The Oxford Book became a bestseller, selling half a million copies in its first edition. As a result of this exposure, 'Sonet' acquired some influential champions, including the literary critic Yvor Winters and the poet-revolutionary Ezra Pound.
Subsequent anthologisations include The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet and The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse. A Dutch translation of 'Sonet', by Adriaan van der Weel, was published in 1991 in a bilingual edition with the Scots text.
Variant texts
Subsequent publications of the poem have differed from Quiller-Couch's version in their spelling, punctuation and formatting.
Sonnet
Fra bank to bank, fra wod to wod, I rin
Ourhailit with my feble fantasie,
Like til a leif that fallis from a tree
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind.
Twa gods guides me: the ane of them is blind,
Yea, and a bairn brocht up in vanitie;
The nixt a wyf ingenrit of the sea,
And lichter nor a dauphin with hir fin.
Unhappie is the man for evirmair
That teils the sand and sawis in the air;
But twyse unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis in his hairt a mad desyre,
And follows on a woman throw the fyre,
Led by a blind and teichit by a bairn.
New Oxford Book of English Verse (1972)
Sonet
Fra banc to banc fra wod to wod I rin
Ourhailit with my feble fantasie
Lyc til a leif that fallis from a trie
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind.
Twa gods gyds me, the ane of tham is blind,
Ye and a bairn brocht up in vanitie.
The nixt a wyf ingenrit of the se,
And lichter nor a dauphin with hir fin.
Unhappie is the man for evirmaire
That teils the sand and sawis in the aire,
Bot twyse unhappier is he I lairn
That feidis in his hairt a mad desyre,
And follows on a woman throw the fyre
Led be a blind and teichit be a bairn.
Oxford Book of English Verse (1999)
Glossary
- ourhailit
- overcome
- ane
- one
- bairn
- baby
- lichter
- lighter
- nor
- than
- dauphin
- dolphin
- teils
- tills
- sawis
- sows
- throw
- through
References in 'Sonet'
The 'two gods'
in the poem are Cupid/Eros (traditionally depicted as a blind infant) and his mother, Venus/Aphrodite (born from the foam of the sea). Both are, of course, in charge of love. In some anthologies, the poem is entitled 'Venus and Cupid'.