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LECTURE 13

ASTROPHIL AND STELLA

Astrophil and Stella is a sequence of sonnets and songs written by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586).It is comprised of 108 sonnets and 11 songs It tells the story of Astrophil (or Astrophel), whose name means star-lover, and his hopeless passion for Stella, whose name means star. Stella is quite definitely identified with Penelope (there are puns on her husband’s suggestive name), and if the sonnets are autobiographical beyond that (always a tricky assumption), they suggest that Sidney tried to persuade her to become his mistress, and she stoutly refused, in spite of her clear and continuing affection for him. It is conventional to refer to “the speaker” in discussing a lyric poem, since the speaker and the poet are not necessarily the same. But in these poems the “speaker” is pretty reliably the Philip Sidney who is in love with Penelope Devereux Rich. Sidney’s sonnets may lack the depth of thought and emotion captured almost uniquely by Shakespeare in his sonnets, but they are perfect little gems of craft built around fairly conventional ideas

INTRODUCTION

Sir Philip Sidney had a short life (1554-1586, 32 years), crowded with incident. He was a very handsome, talented, pedigreed, and well- connected aristocrat and courtier—his uncle was the Earl of Leicester, for example—and even a Member of Parliament at the precocious age of 18. He had the best education the age could afford, having gone first to Shrewsbury School and then to Oxford. He would likely have learned figures of speech as tools of rhetoric, but sonnet-writing would probably not have been an academic discipline. Both at university, though, and in subsequent travels on the continent as soldier and diplomat, he had ample exposure to the poets of the time, and he moved in literary circles. In 1575, Sidney family accompanied Queen Elizabeth on her famous visit to Kenilworth, and the trip afterward included a stop at the home of young Penelope Devereux—13 or 14 at the time—with whom Philip was immediately smitten with a love that lasted the rest of his life. A marriage was arranged, but in a circumstance straight out of renaissance comedy, Penelope’s father died before the deal was completed, and her new guardian arranged a more mercenary marriage, against her will, to Robert, Lord Rich, in 1581. At about the same time, Sidney began the sonnet sequence which was published after his death with the title of Astrophil and Stella. 2

SONNET 1:

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show, That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain, Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know, Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,

I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe, Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain, Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain.

But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay; Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows, And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way. Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite, “Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart and write.”

RHYME SCHEME AND METRICS

The meter of Astrophil and Stella is a usual six-foot line (twelve syllables). The rhyme scheme can be represented as ABAB ABAB CDCD EE. Sir Philip Sidney alters his rhyme schemes freely throughout the poem. This particular rhyme scheme “reinforces the notion of tedious but fruitless study”

PETRARCHAN SONNET

 The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet breaks down two parts of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines)

 The octave introduces the situation and sets out the ideas and motivation, and identify the author’s failed tactics. 3

 The turning point is always in line 9, which is commenced by the adversative. “But…” in this sonnet.

 The sestet is a response to that situation usually in an agitated manner, both through the use of the subject and rhythmic manipulation.

 The last line is a finality with romantic advice.“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart and write.

ANALYSIS

The narrator describes his motivation for composing this sonnet sequence. He believes that his true love will fall in love with him if she were to read this sonnet. The narrator composes this sonnet with a clearly structured style to gain his lover’s heart. He also tries to gain some inspiration from talented poets but to no avail. He finally concludes that by truly writing from his heart, he will steal the heart of his one true love.

In this sonnet, Sidney – narrating as Astrophil – is expressing that he hopes his pity will win over his desired lover, Stella, and he is attempting to convey is love for her in verse. Hence, this poem touches on the theme of the value of poetry, which Shakespeare and Spenser did as well. In the first stanza, Astrophil is saying that is writing poetry to get Stella’s attention, and asking her to read his poetry so that she might understand how deeply he feels for her.

The octet of Sonnet 1 introduces the sonnet sequence as a whole. The lyrical voice expresses his wish to transmit his love in his writing: “Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show”. The lyrical voice’s reflection about writing enables him to make a love sonnet. Nevertheless, the lyrical voice’s writing shows that he knows that he will never win Stella’s love (“That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,/Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know”), but he 4 can’t help but desire her and express his love to her (“Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain”). The lyrical voice believes that Stella will read his writings and become deeply acquainted with his love, and if she pities him, he will win the “grace” of her attention. This clash between passion and reason will be present in this sonnet and in the entire sequence. Moreover, it shows courtly love, a medieval tradition in which the desperate lover watches the woman, his loved one, from afar. Moreover, the lyrical voice is concerned with how he expresses his emotions. Notice the metatextuality that the lyrical voice introduces by talking about his own writing. He thinks that he has made a mistake by looking at other’s writings (“Studying inventions fine”) and trying to emulate them to express “the blackest face of woe”. He thought that this could serve as inspiration: “Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow/Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain”. There is a natural imagery in the final lines of the octet in order to accentuate this particular emotional writing.

The sestet of Sonnet 1 introduces the Volta, turn in Italian. The lyrical voice focuses on the composition of poetry and personifies the moment of writing (“wanting Invention’s stay:/Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows”). He still reflects on studying other poets and their writing: “And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way/Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes”. Notice how the metatextuality is accentuated and deepened in this stanza. Then, the lyrical voice turns into his own and particular moment of writing: “Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite/ ‘Fool,’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write’”. These final lines are crucial, as they suggest two main things. First, there is a divine influence that the lyrical voice finds while writing. And, secondly, the lyrical voice constructs his own poetic and literary consciousness towards his own writings and those of others. 5

The first two stanzas, in particular, abound with expressions that evoke calls for self-pity and demonstrate how desperate he is for Stella’s attention. In line 5, the phrase “sought words to paint the blackest face of woe” promotes an extremely brutal image, but shows his attempt to capture his pain in writing and to make her sympathetic towards him. “Studying inventions fine” means that he was studying literature in the effort to entertain her. In line 7, he uses the word “leaves,” echoing Spenser’s use of “leaves” in the first poem of Amoretti. The phrase “sunburned brain” in line 8 means that he cannot think of the words to write about her, as if he has writer’s block or is worn out from writing so much.

In the third stanza, the phrase “halting forth” is an oxymoron. Many of the Elizabethan sonnet writers used oxymoron in their poems. In this case, the phrase means that he was very close to thinking of the words but that they just wouldn’t come out. It could also be interrupted to imply that he was stuttering. Finally, the ending couplet leaves us with a statement from one of the Muses telling him to just write about how he feels. Referring to the Muses in the poems is a tradition in the Elizabethan sonnets.

Muses

According to the Greek Mythology, the nine Muses had control over the Arts and Sciences and they provide inspiration in these areas of subject. The nine muses include Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Clio (muse of history), Erato (muse of love poetry), Euterpe (muse of music), Melpomene (muse of tragedy), Polyhymnia (muse of sacred poetry), Terpsichore (muse of dance), Thalia (muse of comedy), and Urania (muse of astronomy). In Sonnet # 1, the muse that the narrator is looking to for inspiration is Erato, the muse of love poetry. As the narrator looks for ways and things to say to his lover in order to win her love, he forgets his true essence of being a writer. In the last line, ” ‘Fool,” said my 6

Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write,’ ” Erato reminds him to write straight from his heart in his own words and to stop looking for inspiration from elsewhere.