Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney Poem Analysis Essay Sample

Sir Philip Sidney was a metaphorical golden boy of the renaissance era. He not only wrote poetry, but argumentative essays. He was a devout Protestant and eventually died for the Protestant cause. He was educated in the late developments of The Renaissance Era. Sidney was also a lyricist writing eleven songs which he included in his sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella. Astrophel and Stella, written in the early 1580s, means star lover and a star. This work is composed of 108 sonnets that were often written with his unique rhyme scheme. However, sometimes instead of writing in his unique form, he wrote in the style of the English sonnet. His works were mostly focused on his unrequited love for Penelope Devereux. He strives to write a unique and affectionate sonnet to express his immense love for her. She seems to be impressed with his ability with words and Sidney eventually gets engaged to her. However, engagement does not work out as she marries someone else. The poem that most greatly describes his struggle is “Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show”. In “Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show” Sidney uses metaphors and parallelism to describe his struggles and solutions to writing a unique sonnet.

Sidney opens his sonnet by trying to win the favor of his love by describing his pain.  The unrequited love that is received by Sidney is the basis on which he writes his poetry. His love, though not overwhelmingly expressed, is real and true. This is expressed through his usage of  “loving in truth” (line 1) giving insight into the severity of his love. He also has a difficult time expressing his love, but his expression is “in verse”(1). He hopes that his love exclaimed as well as his pain shown will flatter her. Sidney would like it if Phenlopy would “take some pleasure” (2) from his pain. He does not mean this as literal pain, but the pain in his heart. Also, her pleasure is not exactly the pleasure from his pain. Sidney would instead like to flatter Phenlopy Devereux. Sidney, taking note of his ineffective attempts, lays down a plan in lines two through four. He does so in a simple step by step method that follows parallel structure. He says that if she takes “pleasure of his pain” (2) she might continue to read his poetry. Due to this specific poem being part of a larger work, her reading more could be referring to the rest of his 108 sonnets. Although, he does not specifically reference any of his other poetry within this work. So, that line could only be referring to her finishing this specific poem. If she continues to read his poetry he “might make her know” (3) his pain. If she has knowledge of his pain she might “pity”(4) him, and if pity wins, then “pity grace obtain”(4). This is so that she might finally choose him.   He wants to be able to paint the “blackest face of woe” (5). Although, this is not referring to a literal black face, he is writing a poem. This metaphorical black face is an expression of how dark and full of sorrow his life is without her. This sorrow is expressed in hopes that it “might make her know”(3) his love. After the expression of his love and efforts, aswell as his plans, Sidney continues on to the issue of his writers block.

The second pressing issue that Sir Philip Sidney encounters is his writer’s block. His inability to write a sonnet comes from a lack of inspiration. Sidney tries to find a solution to this problem by “studying inventions”(6). He explores the creativity of others’ works to try and create a unique poem. This method is seemingly ironic because he is trying to create something brand new based on something that already exist. He is trying to work something fresh into his “sunburn’d brain”(8). This solution eventually fails him as he is “studying”(6) things that are already in existence. Due to that, he will be unable to find new strategies. His inability causes him to feel “helpless in [his] throes”(12). His words had “c[ome] halting forth”(9), his creativity his fled. Sidney feels that his pen is being “truant”(13) and disobeying his will to write. He compares the writing of his sonnet to being “great with child”(12), or the difficulty of pregnancy. Sidney realizes this method is not going to work and changes his methods.

Sidney eventually learns, by the advice of his muse, that he should write from what he feels within. Philip Sidney, Realizes that studying works will not help him write his sonnet. So, he decides to create his own “invention”(5). The word invention has more of a creative connotation than the word study. Inventors are accredited with creating new things that often better society; however, this is not Sidney’s purpose for invention. Sidney instead is using invention for the purpose of winning the love of Phenolopy Devereux. Sidney was “beating [himself] for spite”(11) because he could not write the sonnet himself. His “muse”(14) was the main reason he changed his strategy. She told him to “look in thy heart, and write”(14). This is the reason he turned from trying to write based on others’ works and wrote from his own heart. This allows him to write his sonnets and eventually finish his longest work Astrophel and Stella.

In conclusion, Sidney, while writing his sonnets, experienced many issues. The first issue that he encountered was his unrequited love and he continued onto the problem of writers’ block. He solved his first problem by laying out a simple step-by-step method on how he was going to win Penelope over. Once he solved his problem of unrequited love he moved on to his method of writing a sonnet that would complete his steps. This is when he experienced his writers’ block and he first tried to overcome it by looking at other people’s works. The method of studying did not work for Sidney because he would be unable to write anything unique if he is studying the works of others. He used many metaphors to describe his difficulties.  The solution ultimately works for Sidney was the one suggested by his muse. She told him to look inside and to write from his heart, this allows him to complete his works.