What is gained or lost by approaching Sidney's Astrophil and Stella not so much as a love poem as a meditation upon the social function of poetry and the poet in Elizabethan England?
To read poems in their social and ideological contexts, as parts of a social process rather than static objects, is often to gain dimensions of meaning that are lost in a homogenising, timeless approach.
While the sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella does indeed function as the work of a dedicated poet-lover, charting the rise and fall of a romantic relationship, Sir Philip Sidney intended it as much more than this. As the manuscript was only to be circulated amongst a coterie of sympathetic readers he could feel free to satirise court life, express his own frustrated ambition and analyse the purpose and usefulness of his role as a poet.
Elizabethan literary culture was greatly influenced by the presence of an unmarried female monarch. This meant that international business was conducted through courtship, with domestic life also dominated by the Queen's changing affections. Elizabeth I's image fitted into the Petrarchan mould of a pleading, passionate male and his impassive, controlling mistress. Contemporary writers began to investigate the play of power between men and women so for Sidney to use an idealised female to represent a political prize is not an unusual connection to make. The overt expression of social ambition, which was frowned upon, is turned into the acceptable medium of romantic endeavour; thus Sidney is able to discuss his own situation in safety.
Sonnet I is therefore not merely a description of Astrophil (the poet-lover) struggling to write about his love, but of Sidney (the poet) needing to evade the constraints placed upon him by his political situation. From such phrases as 'Some fresh and fruitfull showers upon my sun-burn'd brain' (l. 8) the reader gains a powerful image, that of a man needing not just inspiration but sustenance and shelter from the world. Again he appeals for support as he is silenced without it: 'But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay' (l. 9). By taking two long syllables not to name Astrophil's love, Sidney is taking the opportunity to flatter the Queen or another potential patroness: 'That she, deare Shee, might take som pleasure of my paine' (l. 2) The reader is, after all, warned to take nothing at face value by Astrophil's first words, 'Loving in truth' (l. 1); he is a fictional character and so has no hope of loving truthfully. That an artificial goddess of literature tells him to write from his heart also cast doubt on whether what follows is from Sidney's heart and alerts the reader to further ironies and satires.
Sonnets III and VI are critical of the way other poets write about love. Astrophil disparages voguish references to 'herbes or beasts which Inde or Affrike hold' (III, l. 8) or 'Jove's strange tales' (VI, l. 5). He seems to think that the correct role of the poet is to articulate reality; this is perhaps an attack on courtly life where one must hide the truth under layers of complex diplomacy.
Sonnet XII shows how Stella ostensibly belongs to Cupid, though her heart is yet to be won, and Astrophil must strive to win it. She is so closely identified with love that she becomes Love, and thus on a symbolic level ambition becomes an end in itself. However, her heart remains unassailable, with formidable resources of 'wit' and 'disdaine' (l. 13), just as the political status Sidney seeks remains unobtainable. Love itself has not yet conquered Stella, so she is unready for a lover; the implication is that an ambitious man should not try for advancement until the path is prepared for him to succeed.
Astrophil's poetry stages a revolt against him in Sonnet XIX : '...my words, as them my pen doth frame, / Avise themselves that they are vainely spent.' It doubts that it can ever do justice to Stella, coming from such a weak vehicle. On the contrary, Astrophil's friend in Sonnet XXI insists that these musings on love are below him. The poet is disturbed at ambition in himself, and particularly concerned that it is controlled within his poetry in the right way; ironic, since Astrophil and Stella is such a careful dissection of ambition. Sonnet `XXI also makes reference to the disappointments Sidney endured as failed courtier from a noble family:
...that to my birth I owe
Nobler desires, least else that friendly foe,
Great expectation, weare a traine of shame:
For since mad March great promise made of mee,
If now the May of my yeeres much decline,
What can be hoped my harvest-time will be?
(ll. 6-11)
These lines show to what extent society questions the occupation of 'poet' as a legitimate means of living. A gentleman who does not have to create an income is still expected to pass his time profitably, and whilst poetry can be a respectable profession, the poems themselves need to be respectable. The poet foresees his decline due to the forwardness of his work.
Sonnet XXVII finds the poet-lover neglecting his courtly life because he can only think of Stella:
But one worse fault, ambition, I confesse,
That makes me oft my best friends overpasse,
Unseene, unheard, while thought to highest place
Bends all his powers, even unto Stella's grace.
(ll.11-14)
It is highly significant that Sidney uses the word 'ambition' here, making the link explicit between Astrophil's courtship of the superior woman and the pursuit of political advancement. These lines also show the willingness of the social climber to betray his friends and leave them behind. The following sonnet asks the reader not to allegorise his poetry as it is all for Stella's glory; this is very ironic since there are many hidden meanings in the sequence, but it does remind the reader to enjoy the beauty of the love-poetry too.
One of the most satirical episodes in 'Astrophil and Stella' is Sonnet XXX. In it Astrophil claims to be merely going through the motions of court life while his thoughts lie with Stella. Sidney first establishes this court as the contemporary English one, bringing up questions of Polish sovereignty and of rebellion in Scotland and Ireland; this would have struck his coterie readers in particular because they would have recognised the allusion to his father, the former Lord Deputy of Ireland. He then satirises the lazy attitude of courtiers in Astrophil, who discusses these issues without giving them their due attention:
These questions busie wits to me do frame:
I, cumbred with good maners, answer doe,
But know not how; for still I thinke of you.
(ll. 12-14)
It is ironic that Astrophil attributes his answers to 'good maners' when in fact it shows poor breeding to participate in conversation so half-heartedly; in this way Sidney lampoons the courtiers' shallowness. The whole sonnet forms a bitter commentary on the awkward position of an honest man in a hypocritical court and supports the role of the poet as an aloof critic.
Poetry itself is questioned in Sonnet XXXIV , specifically as to whether it can serve anyone other than its author. Whilst admitting that he writes 'to ease / A burthened hart' (ll. 1,2) Astrophil doubts the value of making his work public. It may 'breed my fame' (l. 6), which he does not discount as a bad thing, but it also opens him up to criticism. Astrophil concludes in favour of writing because he might succeed in capturing Stella's 'great powrs' (l. 14); this could be interpreted as Sidney's approbation of the use of poetry for personal promotion.
Sonnet XLV finds Astrophil confused because Stella cries in response to a story yet fails to be moved by his plight. He appears to be contemptuous of fiction and therefore of art: '...a fable...of lovers never knowne, a grievous case' (ll. 5, 6) and '...Fancie, drawne by imag'd things / Though false' (ll. 9, 10). Of course, Sidney is a supporter of genuine art and gives his slant on good poetry in the final line: 'I am not I...' He condemns false and sentimental writing but recommends to the reader poetry where the author is subsumed by his work. The declaration, 'I am not I,' is also a reminder to Sidney's readers to look for his message as well as Astrophil's.
Another critique of poetry similar to that in Sonnet XIX appears in L , where Astrophil bemoans its inadequacy in describing Stella and his love for her:
And yet, as soone as they so formèd be,
According to my lord Love's owne behest,
With sad eies I their weake proportion see
To portrait that which in this world is best.
(ll. 5-8)
This may be seen as an expression of Sidney's frustration at having to express his disillusionment in the oblique language of poetry. In reference to his poems he says, '...these poore babes their death in birth do find' (l. 11). This is an unusually tender image, expressing Sidney's sorrow that he must either bury his meaning deep within his poems' imagery or keep them from public view. However, he acknowledges the advantages: just as Astrophil's desire to cross out his lines is stopped because 'their fore-front bare sweet Stella's name' (l. 14), Sidney is saved from censorship because he veils his criticism in love-poetry.
These grave meditations are followed by Sonnet LI which refutes difficult subjects for the 'sweet comedie' (l. 13) of love. Astrophil dismisses 'discourse of courtly tides' (l. 9) as mere 'entertainment' (l. 3); he refers to court tittle-tattle sardonically as 'grave conceits' (l. 6) and 'wisedom' (l. 8). For Sidney's coterie readers, however, this sonnet would give the opposite effect, since he was a participant in courtly rumours and intrigues and probably missed them in his exile. Thus, while this sonnet appears to condone only light-hearted subjects for poetry, the converse is actually true. Sonnet LXX does something similar, stating that poetry is good for expressing one's woes but, 'Wise silence is best musicke unto blisse' (l. 14). Here Sidney again draws his readers' attention to the fact that he writes in this manner because his disadvantaged situation forces it.
Sonnet XC is one of the most ironic of the sequence as it repeatedly denies the poet-lover's search for recognition:
Stella, thinke not that I by verse seeke fame…
If thou praise not, all other praise is shame.
Nor so ambitious am I, as to frame
A nest for my young praise in lawrell tree:
In truth, I sweare I wish not there should be
Graved in my epitaph a Poet's name.
(l. 1, ll. 4-8)
This is highly disingenuous coming from a man who wrote an Apologie for Poetrie and produced his own versions of the Psalms. This sonnet may even be a complaint from Sidney that his talents are not recognised, and that despite his reputation as a learned man his opinions are not given sufficient weight.
However, Astrophil's claim that, 'Love doth hold my hand, and makes me write' (l. 14) should not be entirely discounted: Sidney and Lady Rich, his 'Stella', did have an affair and she was more than an excuse to grumble about his fall from favour. The reader should be careful not to expunge all meaning from Astrophil and Stella as love-poetry, since it remains a powerful narrative of doomed love gained and lost.
In its political-historical context the sonnet sequence can be seen as a complicated commentary on the ambiguous role of the Elizabethan poet: whilst the skill was very much revered, any deviation from the standard forms and tropes could be regarded as threatening. Sidney argues for poetic freedom and the licence to satirise, often with a certain amount of resentment since he has to do this under the distancing protection of love-poetry and even then it can only be circulated amongst sympathisers. Sidney covertly but effectively calls for the recognition of poetry as a reflection of all aspects of society, and he does so all the more eloquently because of the intelligence and accomplishment of Astrophil and Stella itself.
Bibliography
Alexander B. Gossart (ed.), The Complete Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, (New York: Books for Libraries, 1877)
Arthur F. Marotti, '"Love is Not Love": Elizabethan Sonnet Sequences and the Social Order', English Literary History, Volume 49, Issue 2 (Summer 1982), pp. 396-428
David Norbrook, The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 1509-1659, (London: Penguin, 1992)
