In the very first sonnet Sidney addresses these issues. “Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write.” Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,īiting my truant pen, beating myself for spite, Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows Īnd others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way. Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburnt brain.īut words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe, Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know That she (dear she) might take some pleasure of my pain, Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show, This is always tricky because of the formulaic nature of much courtier love poetry and Sidney’s poems do follow in that tradition for example the life and death pains suffered by the male speaker/poet and the elevation of the lady into some kind of goddess. There is little if anything specific in the poems (apart from some word play on Lord Rich’s name) to link them to Sidney’s love affair with Penelope, however knowing the history provides the reader with an interest in deciding how much of this comes straight from the heart of the poet. Sidney’s family had drawn up a contract of marriage for Sidney and Penelope, but unfortunately Penelope’s father died before the contract was signed and Penelope was contracted against her will to Lord Rich. Stella has been identified as Penelope Devereux who Sidney first met in 1575 when she was fourteen years old. Sidney’s poems of unrequited love are based to some extent on personal experience. The object of Sidney’s passion is Stella and Astrophil is her star-lover. Sidney is now recognised among the great triumvirate of Elizabethan sonneteers, the others being Spenser and Shakespeare. The English sonnet had been developed a couple of centuries later by Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey and in Sidney’s day were featured in collections by George Gascoigne and Thomas Watson, they became known as the poems of unrequited love. In Elizabethan times sonnets were typically poems of love based on the Italian writer Petrarchs (14th century) collection of songs and sonnets dedicated to his would be lover Laura.

All of his literary works were published after his death and it is these that have carried his fame through to current times as he had a fairly chequered career at Court, because Elizabeth kept the young man at arms length, perhaps suspicious of his connections in Europe.Ī sonnet derived from an Italian word meaning little poem is recognised as having fourteen lines that follow a strict rhyming scheme and a specific structure. Sidney was a courtier to queen Elizabeth I, member of Parliament, scholar, soldier and related to the Earl of Leicester who was a leading member of the protestant group at Court. He had written his sonnet and song collection probably between 1581- 84 but they were not published during his lifetime, however they would have been read by a select group of admirers in manuscript form.

Sir Philip Sidney died at the age of 32 after wounds received in a skirmish at Zutphen (on the continent) in 1586. Shakespeare might have more of his sonnets hanging in the Louvre or the Hermitage, but any collector would be proud to have a Sidney in her own collection.” “I like to say that a great sonnet is a small piece of art of great value, but available to anyone to own.

Professor Jonathan Smith has a blog where he analyses each of the 108 sonnets in Sidney’s collection of poems and in his introduction he compares them to Shakespeare’s sonnets. Unread Books From My Shelf (all authors with surnames starting with B) and so:Īstrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney Three projects this year and here is my list of authors I hope to get through (only the highlights)Īnd so my project for the year is to get to the date of 1590 which was probably the date when Shakespeare wrote his first plays. I am discounting New Years day, because of a suspected hangover from the night before. Its good to have a project and there is no better time to think about next years reading than on New Years eve.

Papegaai amadine