Empathy and Sidney’s "with How Sad Steps, O Moon"

One of the strongest interpersonal skills that we have is empathy. When someone is feeling sad for a specific reason, it really helps to talk with someone else who has gone through the same experience. That's why there are groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. People who have gone through a similar situation to yours understand the emotions that you feel and the questions that you have. Don’t get me wrong, other friends are good to have around to listen to you, but they can only imagine what you are going through. They can’t understand.

In the poem, “with How Sad Steps, O Moon,” Sir Philip Sidney looks for an empathetic shoulder to cry on in a rather odd place. Te speaker has been thwarted by a woman and is quite upset by it all. Probably while walking at night, the speaker sees the moon and imagines that the moon is just as sad and pale as himself. He perceives that since they are looking the same, they must have experienced similar circumstances. Seeing the moon, his own heart cries out saying, “I know your pain for I am experiencing the same.”

Having established the fact that they are brothers of experience, Sidney