Despair. Eventually he proposes an incentive: “...
smooth pillows, sweetest bed, / a chamber deaf to noise
and blind to light” (ll. 9–10)—the gifts conventionally
offered to Morpheus, god of sleep, so he can rest his
“weary head” (l. 11). If his request is denied, then the
only life left in him will be Stella’s image. Sidney’s bribe
is wholly dependent on his social class, as common
people would not have had access to an unshared bed
in a dark quiet room with clean, smooth sheets.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW), LOVE-
SICKNESS.
Peggy J. HueyAstrophil and Stella: Sonnet 41 (“Having this
day my horse, my hand, my lance”) SIR PHILIP
SIDNEY (ca. 1582) Like several other SONNETs in
Astrophil and Stella, the rhyme scheme in Sonnet 41
follows an OCTAVE and SESTET pattern of abbaabba,
cdcdee, while the narrative sense more closely resem-
bles the ENGLISH SONNET form, with the fi nal three lines
providing resolution. It is directly autobiographical
and historically contextualized.
Taking place during a tournament in May 1581 that
was held to entertain commissioners from France, the
speaker begins by setting the stage. During the tourna-
ment, he guided his horse, his hand, and his lance so
well that all who were present judged him the tourna-
ment’s winner. Public opinion decides that his skill in
these arts of war comes from various sources, each
refl ecting the observer’s own partiality, such as the
speaker’s instinctive ability on a horse (according to the
horsemen) and his innate strength (according to the
popular view). More precise observers praise the skill
that the speaker’s experiences in other combats have
provided, while some credit his good luck, or Nature, as
in natural innate sources. A fi nal possibility is his hered-
ity, because his father, grandfather, and maternal uncles,
the earls of Leicester and Warwick, had frequently par-
ticipated in tournaments. However, according to the
speaker, all of these options are incorrect. “The true
cause” (l. 12) of his success in the tournament is the fact
that Stella was watching; her presence and “the beams”
(l. 14) from the eyes in “her heavenly face” (l. 13) gave
him all of the power he needed in order to win.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW).
FURTHER READING
De Grazia, Margreta. “Lost Potential in Grammar and
Nature: Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella.” SLE 21, no. 1
(1981): 21–35.
Peggy J. HueyAstrophil and Stella: Sonnet 45 (“Stella oft sees
the very face of woe”) SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (ca.
1582) Sonnet 45 further explores how poetry can
arouse the reader’s emotions. Specifi cally, Astrophil
comes to understand that poetry about his love might
cause Stella to pity him more than his physical pres-
ence can. Astrophil claims that Stella looks at him and
knows that he is truly sad, but she cannot pity him
even though his love for her is the reason for his sor-
row. Stella is instead moved to pity by a tale—a “fable”
(l. 5)—of tragic love. This fi ctional tale of “Lovers never
knowne” (l. 6) moves Stella more deeply than Astro-
phil’s own real love for her. Astrophil expresses con-
cern that fi ction has more capacity to inspire emotion
than does reality. He suspects that “Fancy drawne by
imag’d things” (l. 9) is more emotive than “servants
wracke,” or the real suffering of a lover (l. 11). Though
the servant’s endurance “honor brings,” it does not
bring the grace and pity Stella gives to the fi ctional lov-
ers. Indeed, Stella is so deeply affected by the lover’s
tale that it penetrates her heart (“her breast,” l. 7), caus-
ing her to cry.
The way SIR PHILIP SIDNEY describes Stella’s tears
suggests that she is full of strong emotion. He writes of
her response to the love story, “Pitie thereof gate in her
breast such place, / That from that sea deriv’d teares
spring did fl ow” (ll. 6–7)—that is, her heart contains a
sea of tears. The power of the lovers’ story releases a
spring of tears from this sea, a sea to which Astrophil
cannot gain access. Astrophil ends the SONNET by
addressing Stella directly and begging her to look at
him as a fi ctional character taking part in “some sad
tragedie” (l. 13). He suggests that by seeing him as a
fi ctional character, Stella might pity his suffering as she
pitied that of the lovers in the fable.
This poem is an elaboration of the concerns intro-
duced in the fi rst poem of the SONNET SEQUENCE. The
language of the fi rst three lines of Sonnet 45 parallels
lines in the fi rst sonnet. In Sonnet 1, Astrophil sets50 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA: SONNET 41