Analysis of Astrophil and Stella by Sir Phillip Sidney
In Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella "Sonnet 1," there is an observable poetic structure that can be analyzed on a literal as well as a figurative level in an attempt to gain a logical understanding of the poem. Sidney's style of writing appears to be easily interpreted on a literal level, yet there is a deeper and more complex dimension of figurative elements, such as metaphors, that require further exploration and examination to unveil their complete meaning. In addition, this sonnet encompasses complex speech that must be interpreted through its underlying meaning and not what it appears to be on the surface.
Firstly, Sidney uses a fairly concise structure throughout "Sonnet 1." For the most part, there is a consistent pattern of unstressed then stressed syllables which make "Sonnet 1" a poem of iambic hexameter. In addition, he also uses a rather apparent rhyme scheme of "ABAB ABAB CDCD EE" as well as commas between phrases, resulting in the poem flowing at a fast pace. The rhyme pattern, commas, and the iambic meter force the reader to read one phrase after another, resulting in a mutual feeling of anger between the speaker and the reader for not being able to write to his love. There is first an octave where the first two quatrains share the same rhyme scheme, then another quatrain, and then a couplet which attempts to offer a solution to the problem the speaker is experiencing in the poem. This type of line sequence is called a sonnet. In the octave, there is an exact rhyme of "A" words, such as "show" (line 1), "know" (line 3), and "woe" (line 5), that have the same amount of syllables at the end of the line, whereas, the "B" rhymes, like "pa...
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... word study to life by giving breath for it to blow invention away. These words are personified to create other characters to project the blame as to whose fault it is that the writer is unable to write. The speaker fails to realize that he is causing his writer's block.
In summary, Sidney's Astrophil and Stella is a poem consisting of several literary devices and poetic structures that bring the poem to a level where readers are able to interpret it on a literal level. In order to understand and experience the actual meaning, one must analyze each individual aspect and develop a point of view that is more understanding than criticizing. By developing a lesser critical point of view, readers are permitted to feel what it is like for an aspiring poet to learn that in actuality, he is not a poet and he lacks imagination, an essential element of composing poetry.
In Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet, ‘Thou Blind Man’s Mark,’ he has a philosophy of desire that one might find to be filled with complexities. To convey this complex philosophy, Sidney employs a variety of poetic devices such as apostrophe, personification, metaphors, anaphora, and a paradox.
Additionally, when someone is very emotional and uncertain, they are often at a loss for words and tend to use basic diction to get their ideas across. Meredith’s use of basic words helps encompass this idea, while also allowing the reader to notice irregularities in the sonnet. In addition to Meredith’s use of basic words, he also evokes ambiguity in the poem by having “almost no description, no sense-details” in many of his lines (298). He does this by using statements such as “and you might think,” and “what would you call” (Lines 3 and 13). While these statements show the ambiguous nature of the poem, it also allows the reader to see the illiterate side of the writer as
In “Sonnet,” Billy Collins satirizes the classical sonnet’s volume to illustrate love in only “.fourteen lines.” (1). Collins’s poem subsists as a “Sonnet,” though there exists many differences in it, countering the customarily conventional structure of a sonnet. Like Collins’s “Sonnet,” Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” also faces incongruities with the classic sonnet form as he satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was largely a convention of writings and art during the Elizabethan era. Although these poems venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
..., D. E. (2009, November 7). The Sonnet, Subjectivity, and Gender. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from mit.edu: www.mit.edu/~shaslang/WGS/HendersonSSG.pdf
...’s argument, that readings of a text are culturally constructed. Being an English major, I am thrust into an English student’s interpretative community, which enables to see or pushes for me to look past the simplicity of a work (surface meaning) and search for a deeper meaning. Enabling me to understand gaps that implied that Stella made it known that she did not feel the way Astrophil did but she was, in the least intrigued by Astrophil, as she is the one who tells him to just say what’s in his heart. With the eyes of a college English student and writer I looked deeper to find that Sidney was portraying a writer plagued by writer’s block and the solution to counter this evil. As I have faith in my interpretation of this poem I understand that even in my attempt at being impartial I am biased. I implore you to take this into account; I looked in my heart and wrote.
The structure of Bright Star is unique in that it breaks free of the limitations of the sonnet form, a form that is notorious for its strict and constrained nature. The rhyme scheme falls very close to the Shakespearean rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG, in which the last two lines represent the final heroic couplet. However, the rhyme of the ninth nine (‘unchangeable’) is never continued, as the eleventh line (‘swell’), which the Shakespearean form dictates should rhyme with the ninth line, doesn’t rhyme fully. These create a sort of volta effect, emphasized by the strong determined word ‘No’, and followed by a caesura to create a pause, emphasizing the new change. This creates a lean towards the Petrarchan sonnet form, in which the volta lies at the beginning of the sestet, rather at the heroic couplet of the Shakespearean sonnet. This is made clearer as the first two quatrains deal with the subject of immortality by examining the star and how it watches down on Earth, while the final quatrain and couplet, or the sestet, which now has the rhyme scheme of EFGFHH, deal with how Keats instead wishes to be with his lover instead. The effect of the merged sonnet forms creates a free and lively mood which feels unconstrained and more natural. It also makes the sestet livelier, not only due to extra rhyme whic...
One of the poems that William Shakespeare wrote is called “That time of year thou mayst in me behold.” It is also known as William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73. This Sonnet is viewed as being comprised of metaphors, which capture the struggle of life. Life in which there is an end to everything but beauty within it. The speaker within this poem is one that reflects on his life and how nature is closely connected with his journey. In order to understand the theme of the poem, the reader must first recognize and understand the three major metaphors within the poem.
“On Being Cautioned against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because it was Frequented by a Lunatic,” Charlotte Smith’s sonnet, comments on the poet’s feelings toward this lunatic and the thought process he instigates in her mind. By using different syntax to describe her two characters, Smith draws the attention of the reader to the message in the sonnet instead of the scene on the surface. The structure of the English sonnet also lends to the poem’s power, giving Smith a perfect avenue to deliver her message.
A sonnet is a fixed patterned poem that expresses a single, complete thought or idea. Sonnet comes from the Italian word “sonetto”, which means “little song”. Poem, on the other hand, is English writing that has figurative language, and written in separate lines that usually have a repeated rhyme, but don’t all the time. The main and interesting thing is that these two poems or sonnets admire and compare the beauty of a specific woman, with tone, repetition, imagery, and sense of sound.
Bender, Robert M., and Charles L. Squier, eds. The Sonnet: An Anthology. New York: Washington Square P, 1987.
Renaissance poets Sidney and Spenser convey their messages with the help of the literary element symbolism. In “Sonnet 75” and “Astrophel and Stella” there is the presence of symbolism. This element is a cornerstone to these poems and helps the reader think deeper beyond the literal meanings of words, and how they represent something greater. The use of symbolism also makes the readers mind think about how the sentences state something literally, but also have a deeper meaning. If this element were not to be used, then the poems would lose some of their charisma because most sonnets have a deeper meaning to be conveyed with the use help of symbolism.
In truly Renaissance English artistic fashion, poets such as Phillip Sidney and William Shakespeare negotiate poetic boundaries, while implementing Italian conventions. They manipulate the sonnet form and climb Castiglione’s “ladder of love” throughout their poems. Sidney’s Astrophil (Astrophil and Stella) behaves wildly, as Castiglione’s Bembo (The Courtier) expects from a young courtier; he is incapable of being able to see beyond physical form. Shakespeare’s speaker in “Sonnet 130” sees beyond form, almost to a fault. He berates his lover by straying from typical poetic intimacy, but he does so because he sees beyond her physical beauty. Sidney implements predominantly traditional Petrarchan sonnets, but creates a caricature of a “sensual lover;” while Shakespeare experiments with style, and he creates an exceptionally “reasonable lover.” Some scholars sharply contrast the two authors, asserting that Shakespeare’s Sonnets negatively respond to sonnets like Astrophil and Stella. However, the two both develop distinctive stylistic alterations to Italian conventions and Shakespeare borrows from Sidney within his poetic innovation.
In the sonnets “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be”, by John Keats, and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, by Wilfred Owen, the poets’ use of formal elements create distinctions to mark the speakers’ thoughts and build upon the situation. Although the two sonnets differ in their general structure, the formal elements making up that structure are just as crucial for both of them to organize and contrast the themes and ideas present throughout the
This sonnet is an anti-love poem that ironically shows how the fairness of a lady is contingent upon nature's blessings and her external manifestations. The Spenserian style brings unity to this sonnet, in that it's theme and rhyme is interwoven throughout, but the focus of her "fairness" is divided into an octave and a sestet. The first eight lines praise her physical features (hair, cheeks, smile), while the last six lines praise her internal features (words, spirit, heart). This sonnet intentionally hides the speaker's ridicule behind counterfeit love-language, using phrases like: "fair golden hairs" (line 1), and "rose in her red cheeks" (line 3), and "her eyes the fire of love does spark" (line 4). This traditional love language fills pages of literature and song, and has conventionally been used to praise the attributes of a lover; but this sonnet betrays such language by exhibiting a critique rather than commendation. This sonnet appears to praise the beauty of a lady but ironically ridicules her by declaring that her "fairness" is contingent upon nature, physical features, and displaying a gentle spirit, which hides her pride.
---. "Sonnet 130." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1. M. H. Abrams, ed. W. W. Norton (New York): 1993.