Astrophil and Stella

Katalin Csilla Burkovics English Literature and Culture I Noémi Najbauer 14 03 2009

Astrophil and Stella - Sonnet 1

Sir Philip Sydney was one of the greatest poets of the Elizabethan age. Astrophil and Stella, the first sonnet of the Astrophil and Stella sequence, which containes 108 sonnets and 11 songs, was written in the 1580s. The word ‘‘sonnet’’ comes from the Italian ‘‘sonetto’’ word, which means little song. As a genre, sonnet can be defined as a fourteen-lined lyric poem, written in iambic pentameter. It means, that the whole work consists of fourteen lines and there are five feet in every line. A foot is made up of two or three syllables but just one is stressed among them. The word ‘‘iambic’’ refers to the type of the foot, which is used, and indicates that a short, unstressed syllable is followed by a long, stressed syllable. On the grounds of this definition, I have to say that Astrophil and Stella Sonnet 1, is not sonnet at all, or at least that this poem does not match the definition what I have meant. One simple reason is that there are not five, but six feet in every line, so it’s not in pentameter, but in hexameter. Another reason is that not every feet is iambic in the poem.

We can differentiate three types of sonnets. The first is the Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet, which consists of eight plus six lines, an octave plus a sestet, having a pause, a volta, between the two parts. The rhyme scheme of this kind of sonnets is ABBAABBA CDECDE.The second type is the English, or Shakespearean, sonnet. This type is consists of four lines thrice plus two lines, three quatrains plus a couplet. The rhyme scheme of this type is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. The third type of sonnets, the Spenserian sonnet is a variation of the English sonnet. The structure of this type is the same as the English sonnet’s structure, but its rhyme scheme is ABABBCBCCDCDEE. If Astrophil and Stella would be a real sonnet it would be a combination of the Italian and the English sonnet. The fourteen lines of the poem can be divided into an octave and a sestet. It is obvious because there are two sentences, one ended at the end of the eighth line, the other at the end of the poem. The second part starts with the word ‘‘But’’, which refers to the presence of the volta. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABABABABCDCDEE (show-pain-knowobtain-woe-entertain-flow-brain-stay-blows-way-throes-spite-write). To summarize these 1

observations, according to its structure the poem is an Italian sonnet, but its rhyme, with some not considerable changings, is revealing to the English sonnet.

The two names in the title of the poem, Astrophil and Stella, can be translated as ‘‘starlover’’ and ‘‘star’’ from Latin and these names refers to the impossibility of their successful relationship because of the distance between them.(1) The sonnet starts with an explanation of the poet’s motivation for writing the whole sequence. He wants to prove his love and his commitment to his feelings, but he not always find the good words to express himself. He is sure that if his lover read his poem, reading will cause her delight. If she read on the poem she will know his true feelings, that he loves her, and maybe she will pity him and maybe she will be gracious to him. The poet wants to get his lover’s sympathy with using his poetic talent. But anyway he tries his wings he always struggles with expressing himself, his pain and his other emotions. For the sake of the cause he also borrows ideas from other poets, but finally he realizes that the only way to tell his feelings is to write his own words from his own heart. The poet relies on the success of his chosen wooing process sincerely. There is a turn after the octave. The sestet starts with the word ‘‘But’’, which suggests some kind of change. In this part, three words, ‘‘Invention’’, ‘‘Nature’’ and ‘‘Study’’, are personifies by the poet. He presents ‘‘Nature’’ to the reader as the mother of ‘‘Invention’’ (‘‘Invention, Nature’s child’’ (Line 10)). With this personalization, these two words get qualities, and this refers to the naturalness of using imagination to create new ideas. These two things are necessary conditions of each other. The third personalized word is ‘‘Study’’. It appears as the stepmother of ‘‘Invention’’. Mother would never be in good terms with stepmother. One reason of it can be jealousy. The poet to act up to this fact gives the ability of breathing to ‘‘Study’’ in order to be able to blow ‘‘Invention’’ away. There is still no inspiration of the poet for writing his ideas and feelings. The personalizations serve the aim to have something that can be the reason of the poet’s inability to write. Around the end of the sonnet the poet shows us a picture of a woman who is ‘‘great with child’’(Line12). He compares his situation with the state of pregnancy. According to him, express his feelings and write down them can be as difficult as giving birth to a child. The pregnant mother has millions of troubles and struggles during the pregnancy such as the poet has during the procedure of writing ‘‘helpless in my throes’’ (Line 12). After all his attempts fails, in the last line his Muse calls him a ‘‘Fool’’ and advises him to ‘‘look in thy 2

heart and write’’. The word ’’Fool refers to the poet. He makes stupid mistakes when he tries to use others love poems to express his feelings. There is some irony in the words of the Muse. The poet should not think so much about his feelings and about how to write them down. He just has to write down what is come from his heart without thinking about it. I think, the testimony of the Muse’s words is that people have to trust in themselves and in their abilities.

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