Sonnet I - Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show by Philip Sidney

The sonnet is one of the 108 sonnets and 11 songs published in the sonnet sequence of "Astrophel and Stella" by Philip Sidney. It is a love poem depicting the narrator's unfulfilled love and his issue of writer's block i.e he is not able to produce new work.

Astrophel wants to show his true love for Stella in his verse. His love might give pleasure to Stella as a woman loves to bother/torment her lover. When Stella gets pleasure in Astrophel's love, she might also come to understand his love for her. He believes that this knowledge might evoke pity in her heart for him and she might recognize and reciprocate him with love too.

Astrophel is in search of right words to describe his innermost sad emotions. Moreover, he reads the works of literary masters to get an inspiration, so that, he can entertain her beloved with his verse (poetry). But all his toil generates no ideas in his mind. He feels helpless due to his inability to find expression to his pain. 

His beloved/Muse intervenes and reprimands him by offering words of wisdom. She advises him to stop looking outward or in external sources for inspiration, instead look in his own heart and give voice to his emotions and write.