He then concludes, “[It is] yet true that I must Stella
love” (l. 14).
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW), ITALIAN
(PETRARCHAN) SONNET, SONNET SEQUENCE.
Kerri Lynn AllenAstrophil and Stella: Sonnet 7 (“When Nature
made her chief work, Stella’s eyes”) SIR PHILIP
SIDNEY (ca. 1582) Sonnet 7, like a number of others
in Astrophil and Stella, combines features from both the
ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET tradition and the ENGLISH
SONNET form. Its rhyme scheme—abba, abba, cdcd, ee—
more closely follows the Italian form of OCTAVE and SES-
TET, but the concluding rhyming COUPLET is more
typical of the English tradition.
This SONNET deviates from the standard by celebrat-
ing the beauty of black—or, rather, Stella’s ability to
overcome black and still be beautiful. This contrast is
introduced immediately: “When Nature made her chief
work, Stella’s eyes, / In color black, why wrapped she
beams so bright?” (ll. 1–2). Darkness obscures sight—
and thus beauty—so the speaker is both distressed and
confused. To resolve this dilemma, he turns to art:
“Would she [Nature] in beamy black, like painter wise,
/ frame dantiest luster, mixed of shades and light?” (ll.
3–4). The 15th century witnessed the development of
a new school of painting, chiaroscuro, favored by
Michelangelo Caravaggio and Rembrandt. This style of
painting accentuates beauty by representing only light
and shade, relying on varying and complex plays of
light and dark to convey what varying shades of colors
do in other works.
If artistry was not Nature’s intent, however, the
speaker must fi nd another solution. Perhaps, he muses,
Nature “... that sober hue devise, / In object best to
knit and strength our sight” (ll. 5–6). In this case,
Nature is doing the speaker a favor. If Stella’s eyes were
not dimmed at least a little, he would be so blinded
that he could not appreciate their beauty. Thus, Stella
must be diminished so the speaker can fl ourish, but
with his capacities intact, he can recreate her.
Not content with either of these options, the speaker
proposes a third: “Or would she her miraculous power
show, / that whereas black seems beauty’s contrary,
she even in black doth make all beauties fl ow?” (ll. 9–
11). The traditional English standard of beauty
included a fair complexion, blue eyes, and blond
hair—the opposite of black. Darkness was unattractive
and potentially evil; why would Nature burden Stella
in such a manner? The apparent question answers
itself, however. Nature, it seems, is merely showing off
her power by rendering Stella the fi nest creation, even
though she has a touch of darkness. The feminine
Nature has applied her cosmetics properly, so that
Stella’s beauty is enhanced, tying all the possibilities
together: Painting and writing, like cosmetics, can cre-
ate and preserve beauty, but can also change it.
The fi nal three lines demonstrate the effectiveness
of Nature’s work, as the speaker insists that Nature
has darkened Stella’s eyes in mourning “to honor all
their deaths, who for her bleed” (l. 14). In vying for
her love, many have fallen. This image is particularly
intriguing. In medieval and Renaissance belief, sight
was the initial step to love (or lust)—a penetrative
look. Stella’s gaze, therefore, has pierced many a man,
leaving them to die. Again, the inherent pun may refer
to la petit morte (the little death)—the belief that each
time a man ejaculated, he lost some of his life’s essence
(sperm), thereby reducing his lifespan. In this case,
Stella’s beauty has inspired the “deaths” of many men,
perhaps through masturbation or nocturnal emissions.
As these activities usually occur in darkness, the black-
ness imposed by Nature serves a greater purpose—ful-
fi llment.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW), SHAKE-
SPEARE’S SONNETS: SONNET 127 AND SONNET 129.Astrophil and Stella: Sonnet 10 (“Reason, in
faith thou art well served, that still”) SIR
PHILIP SIDNEY (ca. 1582) In Sonnet 10, Astrophil
addresses “Reason,” and the poem draws on a typical
Neoplatonic dialectical opposition between reason
and passion. The last two lines express the classical
and Renaissance moral philosophical paradox that
the faculty of reason is supposed to rule over the pas-
sions in the soul. Yet in this sonnet, Reason abandons
its rule of the soul in order to serve the object of
Astrophil’s passion, Stella. Sonnet 10 is written in the
ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET style that SIR PHILIP SID-40 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA: SONNET 7