Versions and Variants of Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella”
In comparing the 1591 and 1598 versions of Sir Phillip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella”, it is said that the 1598 publication proves to be the most authoritative version. The 1598 edition, published along with other works in Sidney’s Arcadia, contains many spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections; a complete restructuring and organization of the sonnet sequence; as well as the replacement of lines that had been missing or miscopied in the original 1591 edition. The differences between the two editions are especially prevalent in the first and sixth sonnets of the poem. While these corrections are seemingly subtle, they prove to be important in supporting the framework of the Petrarchan
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Whereas the 1591 version’s sonnet lines appear to be more grouped together, the 1598 version separates the octave into two groups and the sestet into two groups as well, helping to support and enhance the Petrarchan style. This support allows for the turn at the sestet, such as the one in the first sonnet: “But words came halting…” (9), to be put on display. Along with many spelling and punctuation corrections, the first sonnet contains a significant change within its first line. The 1591 version of the line “and fayne my love in verse to show”(1) is rearranged to “…and faine in verse my love to show” (1) in the 1598 edition. This rearrangement improves the flow of the line but also subtly adjusts it’s meaning. Whereas the 1591 edition states that he wants his love to show in his poetry, the 1598 edition changes by stating he wants his poetry to show his love. Another correction occurs in this sonnet at the beginning of the sestet, replacing “out” (9) in the 1591 version with “forth” (9) in the 1598 version. As the speaker is explaining his struggle to find the words to describe his pain, the use of “out” suggests that it is the speaker who is pulling at the words whereas “forth” puts the onus on the words, that it is the words which are trying to reach him. This reiterates the speaker’s efforts to connect poetry with nature, …show more content…
For example, the line “Of living deathes, deere wounds, faire, stormes, and friesing fyres” (4) contains a few commas that break up one of the oxymorons. These commas are removed in the 1598 version, changing it to: “Of living deathes, dear woundes, faire storms & freesing fires” (4). The correction demonstrates the importance of comma placement and how an incorrect comma can throw off the flow of a line or even the entire sonnet. Therefore, the comma corrections allow the series oxymorons to remain separated, as was probably the intent in the first edition. A major difference also within this sonnet occurs at the tenth line, where in the 1591 version a part of the line appears to be missing: “Whiles teares poure out his inke, and sighs breathe” (10). This missing part, where Sidney is discussing the conventions of other poets, is replaced in the 1598 version so that the line becomes “While teares powre out his inke, & sighs breathe out his words” (10). These missing words affect the style, flow, and the speaker’s statement as he is stating that he can better express his emotions of love through his voice rather than by borrowing overused poetic
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 from 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 poem venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
Billy Collins, the writer of Sonnet uses a comical effect to make fun of old sonnets, how they were written and the older poets, through the use of literary terms.The fact that Billy Collins speaks with a mockery tone of Petrarch, causes readers to understand how he feels about the old sonnet writers and their work. Collins' tone expresses a negative look on old sonnets but also looks on the bright side of them. He is addressing the issue of how older sonnets were written by old poets in order to explain to readers why he wants to change the face of sonnets today. He is trying to get this main point across to readers so that they understand why he wants this change.
...e speaker admits she is worried and confused when she says, “The sonnet is the story of a woman’s struggle to make choices regarding love.” (14) Her mind is disturbed from the trials of love.
Throughout the poem I attempted to remain true to Shakespeare’s sonnet by way of word choice, while adding my own twist. My poem alternates between the more archaic (but arguably more beautiful) "thou" and the more modern "you". This is done to tie my poem, written in the present, to Shakespeare’s work of the past.
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...
Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare’s harsh yet realistic tribute to his quite ordinary mistress. Conventional love poetry of his time would employ Petrarchan imagery and entertain notions of courtly love. Francis Petrarch, often noted for his perfection of the sonnet form, developed a number of techniques for describing love’s pleasures and torments as well as the beauty of the beloved. While Shakespeare adheres to this form, he undermines it as well. Through the use of deliberately subversive wordplay and exaggerated similes, ambiguous concepts, and adherence to the sonnet form, Shakespeare creates a parody of the traditional love sonnet. Although, in the end, Shakespeare embraces the overall Petrarchan theme of total and consuming love.
Petrarch's "Sonnet 292" is composed in the Italian 14-line poem structure comprising an eight-line octave. It also contains six-line sestet. The fundamental characteristics for the Petrarchan poem structure is the two-part structure. To attain this, the author divides the eight-line octave into two four-line stanzas and the sestet into two three-line stanzas. This structure takes into account improvement of two parts of the subject, expanding the point of view of the piece. While some rhyme plot remains after the interpretation of the lyric from Italian, it does not provide the correct representation of the definitive complexity of Petrarch's work that was indispensable to putting across his mess...
On the whole these both translations of Petrach's sonnet are portraying their respective poets. To compare both sonnets over all the Surrey's version has less strength but more polish than Wyatt. He is more successful in fitting the accent to the normal accent of the word in spoken language, but he lacks the originality of Wyatt's creative touches.
‘Sonnet XIX: When I Consider How my Light is Spent’ was written sometime during the time period from1652 to 1656, a date that is debated by l...
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
From the works of William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser it is clear that some similarities are apparent, however the two poets encompass different writing styles, as well as different topics that relate to each other in their own unique ways. In Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and Spenser’s “Sonnet 75”, both poets speak of love in terms of feelings and actions by using different expressive views, allowing the similar topics to contain clear distinctions. Although Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” and William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” relate in the sense that love is genuine and everlasting, Spenser suggests love more optimistically, whereas Shakespeare focuses on expressing the beauty and stability of love.
Sonnet XX, by William Shakespeare, is fraught with wordplay and ambiguity. Shakespeare misleads the audience with variety of puns and double entendres. Due to the large amount of criticism this poem produces, it is necessary to analyze this piece twice: once from the perspective of a female attraction, and once from the perspective of a male attraction. Only when both sides of this equilibrium are examined can true insight be achieved. It is my goal to present the same mystifying experiences as Shakespeare: the initial debate as to whether this fair youth is male or female, and the ultimate debate as to whether our narrator’s intense fondness for this youth is the result of platonic love or carnal lust. After all, Shakespeare obviously created this uncertainty for a reason. The question that remains is “Why?”
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.
The leading major contrast between the two poems is revealed in the difference in structure for their pieces. Petrarch's "Sonnet 292" is composed in the Italian 14-line poem structure comprising an eight-line octave. It also contains six-line sestet. The fundamental characteristics for the Petrarchan poem structure is the two-part structure. To attain this, the author divides the eight-line octave into two four-line stanzas and the sestet into two three-line stanzas. This structure takes into account improvement of two parts of the subject, expanding the point of view of the piece. While some rhyme plot remains after the interpretation of the lyrics from Italian, it does not provide a correct representation of the definitive complexity of Petrarch's work and message found in the original Italian form of the sonnet (McLaughlin). The...
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.