A Review of 'Modest Love' by Sir Edward Dyer

Sir Edward Dyer was born in October 1543 as the son of Sir Thomas Dyer in Glastonbury, Somerset. He was educated at either Balliol College or Broadgates Hall in Oxford. He was brought into Queen Elizabeth’s court by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Liecester. Dyer was considered one of the ornaments of the court. Dyer had a great reputation with his contemporaries, but little of his work survived. Dyer is one of the authors mentioned in the Shakespearean Authorship Question, a theory that says Shakespeare didn’t write everything, but took credit for other authors’ works, such as Dyer’s. Sir Edward Dyer died in May of 1607.

The lowest trees have tops, the ant her gall,
The fly her spleen, the little sparks their heat;
The slender hairs cast shadows, though but small,
And bees have stings, although they be not great;

Here, in Dyer's poem 'Modest Love', Dyer is emphasizing that even the smallest things make their mark. “The lowest trees”, “the ant”, “the fly”, “the little sparks”, “the slender hairs”, and “bees” all show the small insignificant things that most people look over and don’t think to care about. And even if something pesky like a bee sting can cause you to stop and think about how the small things see the world, make it a point to point out the significance of insignificant things.

Seas have their source, and so have shallow springs;

Seas are considered mighty, and at the time Dyer lived, thought to reach to the edge of the Earth. Making the comparison the seas have their source, and so do shallow springs, Dyer tries to make people think that something as large, feared, and mighty as the sea could have humble origins the same as the insignificant spring.

And love is love, in beggars as in kings.

Here Dyer wants everyone to realize that love is love, and is powerful, no matter your social caste. Love is powerful and meaningful, strong and courageous, willful and unbiased. Love won’t come only to those in power, or only to those considered insignificant, but love will come to all who open their hearts to it, all who want to feel the pull of that powerful emotion.

Where rivers smoothest run, deep are the fords;
The dial stirs, yet none perceives it move;
The firmest faith is in the fewest words;
The turtles cannot sing, and yet they love:

Here the author shows the wisdom he is, it is not as it seems on the surface. For example, when rivers look calm and tranquil, there are usually currents hidden beneath the surface that are fast moving and can sweep you away. “The dial” referred to here is probably in reference to a sundial, moving ever so slowly as the sun crosses the sky. You can see the shadow cast on the face of the dial move if you only look at it once in a while, see how the day goes by, but if you watch it closely and expect it to change instantaneously, it won’t. The quote “faith as small as a mustard seed” comes to mind when you separate out the third line of this verse, because faith as small as a mustard seed is usually compared to infants’ faith. Infants, not being able to talk, can still show their faith, even if it isn’t their faith in Christ as the saying is in relation to. Infants can show their faith, not by speaking, but by the way they act. They have faith their parents love them and won’t hurt them. They have faith that their parents will do what is best for them.

True hearts have eyes and ears, no tongues to speak;
They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break.

The first line in this couplet is very self-explanatory. “True hearts have eyes and ears”; they see and hear what’s really going on around them. “True hearts have no tongues to speak”, means that even if they feel something so strongly, love someone or something so purely, they can never let it be known. “They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break.” True hearts hear and see, and sigh because they know they can never be expressed the way they wish they could. Then the true hearts break, knowing no one will take them for what they are, true and pure, but will overlook them like the smallest of the small things. A true heart is often covered by layers of protections from pain, often hidden among the brambles of the world and what love is viewed as. A true heart is as over-looked by the world as, say, the shadow of a single strand of hair.