TAIBUR RAHAMAN (B.ED,M.A IN ENGLISH, B.

A IN ENGLISH)

Analysis of Sir Philip Sidneys Loving in Truth (Sonnet No. 1

from Astrophil and Stella)
Like other creative persons of the period, Sidney also came under the
influence of sonneteering. Thus a series of sonnets addressed to a single lady,
expressing and reflecting on the developing relationship between the poet and his
love grew up. Though the story does not have to be literal autobiography and
questions of sincerity are hardly answered, Sidneys love for Stella, on the
artistic level, has been traced to love-affair of the poets own life. Stella is said
to be Penelope Devereux, who did not or could not reciprocate the love and
married Lord Rich. It is, in fact, owing to the predisposition of the mind
created by the Romantic tradition of subjective art that we sometimes relate
and interpret the works of other writers of other periods before the Romantics
to and in terms of their biographical accounts.
It must be remembered that with Loving in Truth the Astrophil and Stella
theme-sequence opens. Significantly the opening sonnet presents the dual theme
of how to write good poetry and how to win the favour of a beloved. The poet
even implies the question whether it is possible to a good poem aiming at
winning the beloved. At the very beginning of the sonnet Sidney makes it clear
that he writes the sonnet in order to win Stella. Here he employs the simplest
meanswhich any lover does, namely, the pain-pleasure-knowledge-pity-love
method:
she might take some pleasure of my pain;
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain.
The word pain has, however, a double meaning here; in one sense it refer to
the pains of love and in another sense it refers to the hardships of creative
writing. This implies that poetry is not just inspirational or impulsive, but a
long struggle with words, emotions and feelings. Theoretically Sidney was
influenced by both Aristotle and Horace. He believed that good poetry must
TEACHING ENGLISH IS FUN

TAIBUR RAHAMAN (B.ED,M.A IN ENGLISH, B.A IN ENGLISH)

both teach and delight. That is why he thinks that reading well-written lovepoems give his beloved pleasure and knowledge of his sincerity and anguish. This
would, in turn, make her pity him and pity would give rise to love.
The poet confesses that once decided upon the means he went on to paint the
blackest face of woe/ Studying inventions fine Here we come to an
outstanding feature of the imagery of Astrophil an Stellathe device of
personification, which was, in fact, a medieval practice and influenced the poets
till the 17th century. Here the poet also refers to the contemporary practice of
imitating the words of other poets. But he comes to the realization that
imitation without inspiration is futile. That is why he waits for some fresh
showers upon my sun-burnd brain. The image is an instance of Sidneys
innovative imagination. By sun he refers to Stella or the source of his love,
which has dried up his creative faculty. The poet understands that this forces
him to

halt. When Sidney

says,

Invention, Natures child, he follows

Aristotles idea that art is an imitation of nature. In accordance with that

equation, literary imitation, the product of study has a secondary place in
creative writing. Thus, literary imitation, others feet cannot provide the
solution to the creation of original poetry. Here Sidneys comparison of creative
writing to giving birth to a child is highly significant and it contains metaphor
within metaphor.
At last a miracle seems to happen with him:
Fool said my Muse, look in thy heart and write.
He comes to a sudden realization that only spontaneous inspiration can help the
poet compose good poetry and win the beloved. When he will look into his
heart, he will see the image of Stella, which will provide him with the
inspiration and material he needs to write poetry. Thus, the last line of the
sonnet turns out to be a direct statement of Sidneys critical creed that great
poetry does not result from imitation of other poets, but from the expression
of personal experience and passion. Such views on poetic creation are similar to
those of the Romantic poets.

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