It is not love which you poor fools do deem / That doth appear by fond and outward shows
The opening lines of the poem alert the reader to the fact that this is a poem of contention: referring to her antagonists as "poor fools," the speaker positions herself as the wiser lover and poet. Further, the speaker associates these "fools" with the "shows," suggesting that their foolishness stems from their investment in performance while her position, perhaps less noticeable, is also more genuine.
Though oft with face and looks love overthrows / Yet so slight conquest doth not him beseem
Referring to the phenomenon of "love at first sight," this quote positions love as its own entity, recalling the classic depiction of love as the "little god" Cupid. The speaker argues that although one can experience a version of love through "looks," this superficial love is beneath the dignity of Cupid; there is a much deeper and more intense love that exists beyond the visual and the physical.
'Tis not a show of sighs, or tears can prove / Who loves indeed
Once again invoking the image of a show or performance, the speaker makes a direct allusion to the Petrarchist tradition of expressing one's love through sighs and tears. Found in the sonnets of famed poets like Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare, and Samuel Daniel, the sighs and tears of love poetry had, by the time Wroth was writing, become well-known and cliched tropes. Wroth criticizes the use of these tropes in the past to suggest that most poetry was markedly less genuine than it could be at the time she was writing.
But in the soul true love in safety lies / Guarded by faith which to desert still hies
Here, the speaker introduces the spiritual element of erotic love that she claims to be missing from the work of many of her poetic predecessors. Referring to "the soul" and "faith" as the residence and protector of love, the speaker draws a parallel between the theological love for God and the earthy love for her Beloved. As such, the poem concludes with the suggestion that erotic love should be displayed in the same manner as religious devotion.
