Sonnet 1:

Loving, and wishing to show my love in verse,

So that Stella might find pleasure in my pain,
So that pleasure might make her read, and reading make her know me,
And knowledge might win pity for me, and pity might obtain grace,
I looked for fitting words to depict the darkest face of sadness,
Studying clever creations in order to entertain her mind,
Often turning others pages to see if, from them,
Fresh and fruitful ideas would flow into my brain.
But words came out lamely, lacking the support of Imagination:
Imagination, natures child, fled the blows of Study, her stepmother:
And the writings (feet) of others seemed only alien things in the way.
So while pregnant with the desire to speak, helpless with the birth pangs,
Biting at my pen which disobeyed me, beating myself in anger,
My Muse said to me Fool, look in your heart and write.

The author opens this first sonnet by explaining his motivation for composing the sonnet
sequence. He believes that if his love were to read the sonnets, she would eventually return his
affection. He argues that her pleasure in his pain would cause her to read his sonnets, and her
reading of the sonnets would allow her to know the extent of his affection, which might make her
pity the author's situation-and this pity may transform into grace and love.
The author also describes his difficulties in composing the sonnet sequence. He has struggled to
express the pain and misery of his emotions and has tried to look at other poets' works in order to
gain inspiration. Still, he has been unsuccessful. Finally, the author has realized that the only way
to fully express his love for Stella in his poetry is to write from his heart.

Analysis: Sidney's actions of writing about how to compose a love sonnet allow him to do just
that: compose a love sonnet. With this in mind, he warns the reader that the emotions expressed
in the entire sonnet sequence stem directly from the heart-thus, he cannot be held rationally
responsible. The statements in this first sonnet make clear that Sidney (who already can be
identified with the author of the love sonnets) is conflicted in his role as a zealous lover and a
self-critical poet. This sonnet demonstrates the first of many clashes between reason and passion
that appear in the sonnet sequence. He already seems to know that he will never truly win Stella,
but he cannot help but desire her. This conflict between contradicting forces is a crucial element
of the sequence.

Sonnet 2:
Love gave the wound, which will bleed as long as I breathe,
But not at the first sight of her, nor with a chance shot,
Rather her established worth tunneled away for a time,
Until, little by little, it achieved a complete conquest.
I saw her and liked her: I liked her but did not love her yet:
Then I loved her but did not immediately obey Loves demands:
At length under duress I agreed to Loves commands,
Though complaining about the unfairness of my fate.
Now even that step on the ladder of lost freedom
Is vanished, and like a Muscovite born to love slavery,
I call undergoing tyranny something worthy of praise:
And now I make use of what is left of my intelligence
To convince myself that everything is well,
While with sensitive art I depict my self in hell.

The author describes the slow progression of love into his life. Love did not come quickly or at
first sight. Instead, the author's love for Stella began slowly and infiltrated his heart before he
realized what was happening. He began by viewing her in a purely platonic way, and he then
began to appreciate her more - and he finally fell in love with her. At first he bemoaned his loss
of liberty at the hands of love, but now, his emotions run too deep to allow him to make even that
small complaint about the circumstances. He praises his slavery and spends his time trying to
obscure the truth of his situation.

Analysis: Sidney presents himself as a passive participant in the progression of love. He has no
control over his emotions. Moreover, because of the slow and steady progression of his
emotions, he was unable to guard himself in any way. He is a slave to love and has no power to
escape it. By presenting himself as a slave to a sort of happy tyranny, Sidney both justifies and
excuses his actions. According to his inflexible Protestant background, Sidney's desire for Stella
is inappropriate and must be restrained at all times. But if he is not under his own control,
existing as nothing more than a slave to love, he cannot be judged as completely responsible for
his behavior.

Sonnet 6:

Some lovers, when inspired by their Muses,

Speak about hopes created by fear, and of who-knows-what desires,
Of the power of heavenly rays infusing hellish pain,
Of living deaths, dear wounds, fair storms, and freezing fires:
One of them dresses his poems with Jupiter and Jupiters strange tales,
Embroidering them with bulls and swans, sprinkling golden rain:
Another humbler poet writes about pastoral shepherds flutes,
But often hiding royal attitudes in the rural similes and metaphors:
To some poets a sweet sadness allows their sweetest style,
While they use tears for ink, and breathe out their words in sighs,
And pale despair is their paper, and pain moves their pen.
I can speak what I feel, and feel as much as they do,
But I think that I show everything I can of my state of mind
When my trembling voice utters its love for Stella.

Mirroring the first sonnet in the sequence, Sidney describes why he is unable to copy other poets.
He refers to the numerous conventions used to write sonnets. First, some poets view love as an
overpowering force that makes lovers suffer. Second, some use contradictory terms or
oxymorons, such as "living deaths" and "freezing fires." Third, some use mythology to express
their ideas, for example, describing the many disguises of Jove. Fourth, some use the pastoral
tradition, depicting gentlemen and ladies dressed as shepherds and shepherdesses. Finally, some
use conceits to write their sonnets (these are extended metaphors with a complex logic that often
dominates an entire poem). For example, there is the comparison between tears and ink.
Although he recognizes all of these literary traditions for expressing love in sonnets, Sidney
declares that he only can express his love through his voice.

Analysis: Sidney describes poets' various means of expressing love in their sonnets. Although he
hardly employs the traditions they use, he feels his love as intensely as they do. Instead of
writing poetry, however, all that he needs to do to show his love is reveal the trembling in his
voice as he whispers her name. This is one of the earliest literary calls for originality in one's
work. In Sidney's time, it was common for authors and poets to steal the plots of others. William
Shakespeare, for one, thought nothing of "borrowing" other people's plots as well as the stories
of real historical figures to use in his plays. Yet, Sidney is unable (or perhaps, unwilling) to rely
on other poets to demonstrate his love. In the end, the emotion in his voice is far superior in
expressing his love than any borrowed literary conventions.

Sonnet 7:

Why did Nature wrap Stellas eyes, those bright rays

That are Natures main work, in black colouring?
Did Nature wish, like a skilled painter using chiarascuro technique,
To create the finest lustre by mixing shadows and light?
Or did Nature create that sombre shade of colour
In order to knit together and strengthen our powers of vision,
In case Stellas sun-like eyes should dazzle more than they delight
By being free of any protective veil?
Or did Nature wish to show her miraculous powers
By making all beauties appear with a black colouring
Even though black is not regarded as being beautiful?
No, it is as follows: Nature remembering that Love should always be
Placed in Stellas eyes, gave Loves clothes this mournful colour,
To honour the deaths of all those who bleed to death for her sake.

The sonnet opens with a riddle: "What Nature made her chiefe worke, Stella's eyes, / In colour
blacke, why wrapt she beames so bright?" Astrophel lists several possible answers to the riddle.
It could be for the aesthetic effect (since Stella's black eyes set off her fair skin). Her eyes could
act as a black veil to obscure the dazzling Platonic light. Or, her eyes could be meant to show
Nature's great power by making the color black seem beautiful. Each of these responses is
offered with hesitation in the form of questions. The true response is the final one: Stella's eyes
are black in order to mourn all of those men who die for the love of her.

Analysis: Astrophel devotes almost the entire poem to praising Stella's eyes. Yet, nothing in the
poem is certain (none of the reasons is accurate) until the witty couplet at the end of the poem. In
an ironic shift, the only certain thing in the poem, other than that her eyes are black, is that her
eyes have a destructive effect on Astrophel. This is a slightly skewed version of a traditional
metaphor used in Renaissance poetry: the idea that the mistress's eyes can kill the lover with a
glance.

Sonnet 31:
With what sad steps O Moon you climb the skies,
How silently and with how pale a face:
What, can it be that even in a heavenly place

That busy archer (Cupid) tries out his sharp arrows?

2Surely, if eyes that are long acquainted with love
Can make judgments about it, you feel for lovers:
I read it in your looks: your languished grace
Reveals your state to me who feel similarly.
Therefore out of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constancy in love de
.
..
emed up there also to be lack of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as they are here?
Do those above love to be loved, and yet
Scorn the lovers who are possessed by that love?
Do they call their ungratefulness (unwillingness to please) virtue also?

Astrophel sees the moon climbing in the sky at night, and he recognizes in its pale face the same
lovesickness that he experiences. He suggests that, perhaps even in the heights of the sky,
Cupid's arrows are powerful enough to shoot the moon. Then, Astrophel becomes completely
certain that the moon is lovesick. He recognizes its looks and its languishing grace because they
are the same looks and grace that he recognizes in himself. He asks the moon what life and love
are like upon its surface. He asks: Is the faithful lover viewed as an idiot? Are beautiful women
as proud as they are on earth? Do they desire love and attention but scorn those who give it to
them? Do they call ungratefulness a virtue?

Analysis: Sidney's connection to the moon is an example of a "pathetic fallacy" in which

elements of nature appear to experience human emotions. At first Sidney describes the moon in
accordance with classical mythology, as an individual being. Yet, his insistence that the moon is
lovesick does not make sense in this context because the goddess of the moon is Diana, a
perpetual virgin who is not affected by love. Then, Sidney switches his perception of the moon to
adhere to Copernican belief, and he describes the moon as a planet. The series of questions he
asks expresses his desire for a logical explanation of Stella's behavior. He wants to know if the
scorn his love receives at her hands is limited to the earth.

Sonnet 39:

Come sleep, O sleep, the reliable bond of peace,

The resting place of wit, the balm of sorrow,
The poor mans wealth, the prisoners release,
The impartial judge between the high and low:
With a strong shield, shield me from the crowd
Of fierce spears that despair throws at me:
O, make me cease fighting in these civil wars:
I will pay a good tribute of gifts if you do so.
Accept, from me, smooth pillows, a sweetest bed,
A bedroom proofed against noise, and closed to light,
A rose-garland of secrecy, and a weary head:
And if these things, which belong to you as of right anyway,
Do not win your heavy thanks, you may also see
Stellas image in my mind, more alive than elsewhere.

Sidney personifies sleep and begins to have a conversation with it. He prays that Sleep will come
and release him from his current misery. Only when he is asleep is he able to ease his suffering
and stem the civil war that is waging between his heart and his head, between his love and his
reason. He wonders what price he must pay in order to convince the god of Sleep to come to
him, and he promises a "good tribute." Smooth pillows, a comfortable bed, and a dark, quiet
room are all that he desires, if only he can persuade Sleep to come. Finally, Sidney comes up
with a way to convince Sleep to come to him. When he is asleep, he argues, the image of Stella
will appear in his dreams, and Sleep will be able to watch. This is the greatest tribute that he can
pay.

Analysis: This is an example of a sonnet in which Sidney's persona talks to an entity other than
Stella. In addition to "Sleep," Sidney also directs his speeches to the allegorical "Reason,"
"Love," "Queen Virtue," "Patience," "Desire," and more. In literature and rhetoric, this act of
addressing something that is not a person is referred to as "apostrophe." The irony in this sonnet
is very interesting. Sidney begs for Sleep to come and rescue him from his love and suffering for
Stella. Yet, at the same time, an image of Stella will automatically come to his head while he is
asleep. Whether he is asleep or awake, Stella is always in his mind. He prefers the Stella in his
dreams because he does not have to face the reality that she is not his own.

Sonnet 61:
Often with true sighs, often with unprompted tears,
Sometimes with slow words, sometimes dumb eloquence,
I attack Stellas eyes and invade her ears:
But this, in the end, is her sweetly breathed defence:
That whoever, indeed, experiences affection inwardly,
Makes both soul and sense so much the captives of his Saint,
That, completely hers, he forgoes all thought of self,
From his Saint he learns his desires and his lifes course.
Now since her chaste mind hates the love that is in me,
I must straightaway, with chastened mind, show
That she can quickly separate me from what she hates.
O Doctor Cupid, reply in my place,
Or I will be driven to admit, by angels sophistry,
That I cannot love unless I leave off loving.

Astrophel assails Stella with his different confessions of love, first with sighs, then with tears,
then with halting words, and finally with silence. Stella is not overwhelmed, and she maintains a
clear opposition to Astrophel's love. Because Stella hates Astrophel's passionate love, Astrophel
determines to rid himself of it. He asks Cupid for help to make him not love Stella until he has
her permission to love.

Analysis: In an ironic twist, Astrophel must rid himself of his love for Stella in order to be
worthy of her. She will appreciate only a chaste, controlled love, which Astrophel does not
possess. Despite all of his entreaties, she remains firm in this declaration, and Astrophel
concludes that the only solution is to remove the love for her in his heart.

Sonnet 72:
Desire, though you are my companion of old,
And often cling to my pure love, so that I
Can scarcely distinguish one of you from the other,
While each of you intensifies the fire in my heart,
Now I must part from your company:
Venus has been taught how to fly with Dianas (chaste) wings:
I must no longer inhabit your sweet passions:

Virtues gold must now tip my Cupids arrow.

Service and honour, admiration with delight,
Fear of offending, a will worthy to be revealed,
Care shining in my eyes, Faith shining in my spirit,
These things are what my only darling has left me:
But you, Desire, because you would possess everything,
Are now banished, and yet how can you be?

Astrophel directs the sonnet to Desire, the emotion that has augmented his love for Stella since
the beginning of the sequence. He declares that, even though both love and desire fan the flames
of his heart, he has determined that he must give up Desire. Love flourishes through chastity and
virtue, and he now must accept virtue in all its forms. He will embrace Service and Honor as
Stella's gifts to him. Astrophel recognizes that he must give up Desire, but ultimately he does not
know how to do so.

Analysis: This sonnet evaluates the same conflict as in Sonnet 71, but its tone is markedly
different. Astrophel recognizes Desire as a loyal companion and his oldest friend. Sidney
addresses Desire as a person (it is apostrophe), demonstrating a great deal of reluctance in
banishing Desire. At the end, Astrophel is confused by his inability to go through with the
banishment. For the first time, Astrophel's relationship with Desire is recognized as a force to be
reckoned with.

Sonnet 74:
I never drank from the Muses well, Aganippe,
Nor ever sat in the shade of Tempes valley:
And Muses scorn to live in common minds:
I am a poor layman, unfit for sacred rites.
Some people, I hear, speak of poets fury,
But God knows I dont know what they mean by it:
And I swear by the blackest river of hell,
That I am no pick-pocket of anothers wit.
How does it happen then that I can speak my thoughts
With such smooth ease, and what I speak flows
In verse, and my verse pleases the most intelligent?
We guess the cause: What, is it this? No, indeed:

Or this? Much less so: What is it then? Sure it is this:

My lips are sweet, inspired by Stellas kiss.

Astrophel denies any contact with the Muses that might inspire him to write poetry. He describes
himself as nothing more than a "poor layman" who has no claim to the poetic creativity of the
Muses and lacks the motivation to plagiarize from another poet. Then how is Astrophel still able
to write successful poetry? At the end of the sonnet, Astrophel finally explains that his sole
inspiration is Stella's kiss.

Analysis: In this sonnet, Astrophel steps out of character to construct a witty reference to the
stolen kiss. This sonnet is widely considered to be the comic masterpiece of the sonnet sequence
because of Astrophel's tongue-in-cheek response and lack of remorse for the kiss. (Compare
Alexander Pope's later "The Rape of the Lock.")

Sonnet 108:
When sorrow (using the heat of my own passion)
Melts down his lead into my boiling breast,
Through that dark furnace, to my oppressed heart,
A joy shines from you, my only light;
But as soon as thought of you gives birth to my delight,
And my young soul flutters to you, his nest,
Raw despair, my daily guest though unasked,
Immediately clips my wings, and wraps me in his night,
And then makes me bow my head and say:
Ah, what use is Apollos gold (sunlight) to that wretch
Whom iron doors keep from enjoying the day?
So strangely (alas) do your actions rule me,
That, in my sadness concerning you, you are still my joy,
And in my joys concerning you, you are my only suffering.

Whenever Astrophel's sorrow is melted away, he immediately begins to think of Stella again. His
heart opens and is filled with her light. Yet, before Astrophel can reach out to her, Despair takes a
hold of Astrophel's delight and destroys it; it cannot reach her. Astrophel returns to the darkness

of his existence without Stella's sun, thinking only of the irony that he still must take joy in the
thought of her.

Analysis: Astrophel invokes the idea of a forge and metalworking in this final sonnet. The fires
of his suffering are so great that they can melt away his sorrow and allow him to be hopeful
again. The image of Stella that appears in his heart is enough to spur his soul into flight. Despair
swiftly crushes the flight, clipping Astrophel's wings, but the cycle will continue to repeat. Still,
Astrophel will not be completely unhappy; he still experiences some joy in his woes for Stella.