1. ASTROPHIL AND STELLA
How Astrophil and Stella both adheres to and departs from the
conventions of Petrarchan love and discuss their significance.
Matt Nolan
2. ASTROPHIL AND STELLA
• The collection of 108 sonnets and 11 songs has an autobiographical tone, Probably because Sidney had to
produce fresh and original poetry which came from the heart, in order to break away from the
conventional sonnets which had become familiar and predictable.
• Although many of the sonnets portray a love which is dissimilar to Petrarchan ideologies, many of the
themes, such as longing, frustration, and self-loathing still remain. The songs in particular reflect the
questionable morality of Astrophil who is attempting to win over the married Stella. He steals kisses off
of her while she sleeps, worrying about her anger and then later wishes he was more adventurous, Song
ii, Astrophil is turned away time and time again by Stella but keeps returning no matter how much she
declines.
• Astrophil’s morality should be frowned upon rather than encouraged, however modern critics praise his
resilience as he is driven by love. However, critics such as Thomas Roche JR. believe Sidney “wanted us
to be delighted by Astrophil’s wit” and that he “teaches morality by negative example” as Astrophil only
finds despair at the end of his longing because he blindly followed his desires.
• Songs: Each song has an important role in the narrative of Astrophil and Stella, they should not be read
all at once but alongside the relevant sonnets, Song 2, Song 8, and Song 11 are particularly important in
terms of the plot. The stolen kiss in Song 2 is the closest Astrophil ever gets to the manifestation of his
physical desire for Stella. Song 8 is the beginning of the end in their relationship; Stella admits that she
loves Astrophil, but won’t leave her husband. Song 11 Stella finally dismisses Astrophil for good,
destroying any of his hope for a future relationship.
3. THEMES MADE POPULAR BY THE
PETRARCHAN IDEOLOGIES OF LOVE
• Love at first sight
• obsessive yearning and
lovesickness
• Frustration
• The lady as ideally beautiful,
ideally virtuous, miraculous,
beloved in heaven, and destined to
early death
• The god of love with his arrows,
fires, whips, chains
• War within the self-hope,
fear, joy,
sorrow.
• Allegory
• personification
• Wooing, exhortation,
outcry
• Self-accusation, self-defence
• Repentance, and the
farewell to love.
4. SONNET 33
I might, unhappy word, oh me, I might,
And then would not, or could not see my bliss;
Till now, wrapt in a most infernal night,
I find how heav’nly day, wretch, I did miss.
Heart, rend thyself, thou dost thyself but right;
No lovely Paris made thy Helen his:
No force, no fraud, robb’d thee of thy delight,
Nor Fortune of thy fortune author is:
But to myself my self did give the blow,
While too much wit (forsooth) so troubled me,
That I respects for both our sakes must show:
And yet could not by rising morn foresee
How fair a day was near, oh punish’d eyes,
That I had been more foolish or more wise.
In this sonnet Astrophil is grieving that he
had not noticed Stella’s beauty sooner. When
he first met her she was not blossomed into
the beautiful mature woman she became.
Contextually, Sidney first met, what is
believed to be the influence for Stella,
Penelope Devereux when she was 12 years
old and couldn’t see her as a beautiful
woman, but still as a child.
This sonnet both adheres to and departs from
the typical Petrarchan and platonic
ideologies of love.
The frustration and self-loathing is found
both in this sonnet and other sonnets which
adhere to Petrarchan ideologies.
However, the speaker, Astrophil, does not
blame his love interest for ‘trapping’ or
‘tormenting’ him, but instead admits he
shouldn’t have dismissed her so easily.
5. SONNET 33 I might, unhappy word, oh me, I might,
And then would not, or could not see my bliss;
Till now, wrapt in a most infernal night,
I find how heav’nly day, wretch, I did miss.
Heart, rend thyself, thou dost thyself but right;
No lovely Paris made thy Helen his:
No force, no fraud, robb’d thee of thy delight,
Nor Fortune of thy fortune author is:
But to myself my self did give the blow,
While too much wit (forsooth) so troubled me,
That I respects for both our sakes must show:
And yet could not by rising morn foresee
How fair a day was near, oh punish’d eyes,
That I had been more foolish or more wise.
• Sidney uses uncertain language to
highlight how Astrophil is not a
trusted narrator, and can make
mistakes.
• The comparison of these two lines
shows that he is now reflecting on
what was and what is now.
• The speaker is comparing himself to
Paris and blaming himself that he
missed out on his own Helen
• The speaker is not blaming Stella but
instead is blaming himself for not
noticing.
• Here the speaker is saying how he
didn’t have the foresight to see what a
beautiful woman (Stella) was to
become, even when she was on the
cusp of womanhood (rising morn)
6. Sidney (Sonnet 2, ‘Astrophil and Stella’) Petrarchan (Sonnet 3, ‘The Canzoniere’)
BREAK FROM PETRARCHAN LOVE Not at first sight, nor with a dribbed shot
Love gave the wound, which while I breathe will bleed;
But known worth did in mine of time proceed,
Till by degrees it had full conquest got:
I saw and liked, I liked but loved not;
I lov’d, but straight did not what Love decreed.
At length to love’s decrees I, forc’d, agreed,
Yet with repining at so partial lot.
Now even that footstep of lost liberty
Is gone, and now like slave-born Muscovite
I call it praise to suffer tyranny;
And now employ the remnant of my wit
To make myself believe that all is well,
While with a feeling skill I paint my hell.
It was on that day when the sun’s ray
was darkened in pity for its Maker,
that I was captured, and did not defend myself,
because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.
It did not seem to me to be a time to guard myself
against Love’s blows: so I went on
confident, unsuspecting; from that, my troubles
started, amongst the public sorrows.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
and opened the way to the heart through the eyes,
which are made the passageways and doors of tears:
so that it seems to me it does him little honour
to wound me with his arrow, in that state,
he not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.
Sidney opposes Petrarch’s
views of violent love, He
admits love doesn’t pierce
you like an arrow but it is
rewarded through time and
getting to know the person.
7. SIMILAR TO PETRARCHAN LOVE
Sidney (Sonnet 2, ‘Astrophil and Stella’) Petrarchan (Sonnet 3, ‘The Canzoniere’)
Not at first sight, nor with a dribbed shot
Love gave the wound, which while I breathe will bleed;
But known worth did in mine of time proceed,
Till by degrees it had full conquest got:
I saw and liked, I liked but loved not;
I lov’d, but straight did not what Love decreed.
At length to love’s decrees I, forc’d, agreed,
Yet with repining at so partial lot.
Now even that footstep of lost liberty
Is gone, and now like slave-born Muscovite
I call it praise to suffer tyranny;
And now employ the remnant of my wit
To make myself believe that all is well,
While with a feeling skill I paint my hell.
It was on that day when the sun’s ray
was darkened in pity for its Maker,
that I was captured, and did not defend myself,
because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.
It did not seem to me to be a time to guard myself
against Love’s blows: so I went on
confident, unsuspecting; from that, my troubles
started, amongst the public sorrows.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
and opened the way to the heart through the eyes,
which are made the passageways and doors of tears:
so that it seems to me it does him little honour
to wound me with his arrow, in that state,
he not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.
Both poets show an
understanding that love has
captured them like slaves.
They both transform their
anguish into an art form, and
make them ‘public sorrows’.
8. CONCLUSION
• Astrophil and Stella can be mostly interpreted as a warning: Go, and do not likewise as Astrophil, may not be an
ambassador for Platonic or Petrarchan love, but is still a slave to his desires. He pursues his love, rather than
his passion, but the morality is flawed, and although he loves Stella, he is too late and she is married.
• The concept of forbidden love is popular amongst Petrarchan ideologies but Sidney subverts the expectations of
the readers to make Astrophil seem better, than other Renaissance lovers, through his love of Stella’s inner
beauty, as well as her physical appearance.
• The themes seen in Astrophil and Stella compared to Petrarchan/Petrarchan-inspired poetry share similarities
in pain and longing, but Sidney does not use as much violent language to describe Astrophil’s affection. Also,
instead of love at first sight, their love is one which grows through time and surpasses physical beauty.
• The significance of both the similarities and differences between Sidney’s work and Petrarchan ideologies is that
it shows how Sidney wanted to inspire others into being more rational with love, rather than just reusing the
conventions of the time, set about by Petrarch.
