Mary sidney herbert psalms 139

Mary (Sidney) Herbert, countess of Pembroke, dedicatory poem & Psalms 52 and 139 (1595-99)Note--no contemporary first edition or "ed. prin."--MS circulation until modern scholarly editions appeared, but they were widely known to Lanyer, Donne, Herbert, Wroth, and others.  She presented a manuscript of the psalms to Elizabeth I in 1599.

Genre: literary epitaph/dedication/homage and religious lyrics.

Form: the poem to her brother, Sir Philip Sidney, is in thirteen seven-line stanzas of iambic pentameter rhyming abbababba, a seriously difficult rhyme scheme to sustain for so long.  The psalms are in four-line stanzas alternating trimeter and dimeter lines (various meters) rhyming abab (#52) and seven-line stanzas (two iambic tetrameter, two iambic dimeter, and three iambic tetrameter) rhyming abccbab.

  You'll find the psalm stanzas interesting to compare with Donne's and Herbert's lyrics for their use of varying line lengths and rhyme schemes fo