astrophel and stella microtheme

Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella

Arguably, the most vital aspect of Sir Phillip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella is the initial sonnet that begets this lengthy work. There are several different facets of this particular poem within this longer work that make it highly important to the interpretation to the rest of it. Moreover, the author is able to employ a lengthy metaphor within this first poem that helps to account for the diffuse nature of the complete work. An analysis of this first poem reveals that it provides the source of inspiration for the lengthy love poem of Astrophel and Stella—which is actually a series of poems and songs depicting this torrid love affair. The reader can infer that this initial poem is the source of inspiration for all of the others in this body of work due to a sophisticated metaphor the author utilizes to describe this particular work. It is interesting to note that in the very first few lines of this poem, the author explicitly denotes that this entire collection of poems are written in the hopes that the maiden, Stella, will read them and take “pity” and deliver “grace” to the star-struck lover Astrophel. Still, when it comes to actually forming the words that may inspire the maiden such, the poet employs a metaphor in which he likens his brain (which is responsible for his writing) to land and the product of that land to the writing which may win Stella. The difficulty that the poet incurs in effecting this process is implied by the description of his brain as “sun-burned” (Sidney), which implies it lacks the proper irrigation and water to make it harvest words. Therefore, the poet longs for “fresh and fruitful showers” (Sidney) in order to produce the words that will eventually win Stella. This metaphor is effectively extended within the rest of this initial sonnet. What the poet actually desires is a production of words, which is actually creation. As such, his metaphor of the mind as land which desires to produce fruitful words is accordingly apt. Additionally, what he is hoping will be the fruit of his labors and the crux of this metaphor is that creation of words, which is likened to the creation of other things within this first poem. Interestingly enough, all of these other things pertain to nature. Thus, the poet is actually able to expand his metaphor from merely being one about land and the creation of poetry to nature and nature’s natural production or harvest of creation. This creation is likened to “Inuentions” (Sindey) which is old English for inventions. The parallel between invention and creation is quite clear—nature’s inventions are the fruits, flowers and harvests that are produced yearly. Therefore, Sydney refers to invention as “Nature’s child”. What is perhaps most fascinating about this extended metaphor throughout this initial poem is the fact that it spans a number of different aspects of nature. Originally it manifested as the land within the poet’s sunburned brain, later on it was evinced as invention itself and nature’s child. Finally, however, the poet presents this metaphor as a likeness between the complete collection of works that comprise Astrophel and Stella and the birth of a child which, for humankind anyways, represents the ultimate expression of nature. Towards the end of the first sonnet the poet describes himself as “great with childe” and “helpless in my throes” (Sidney). These lines are figurative; the child represents the complete collection of poems he is attempting to write, the “throes” (Sidney) parallel labor pains with the writing process. In summary, Sydney utilizes a series of sophisticated metaphors in the initial sonnet of Astrophel and Sydney to indicate how important this work is. He likens the writing of this work to the giving birth of a child, and to nature’s ultimate expression of creation.

Works Cited
Sidney, Philip. “Astrophel and Stella”. http://pages.uoregon.edu. 1877. Web. http://pages.uoregon.edu/rbear/stella.html

Cited: Sidney, Philip. “Astrophel and Stella”. http://pages.uoregon.edu. 1877. Web. http://pages.uoregon.edu/rbear/stella.html