Astrophil and Stella: Sonnet 49 (“I on my horse,
and Love on me doth try”) SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (ca.
1582) In Sonnet 49, Astrophil compares his mastery
over a horse to love’s mastery over him. SIR PHILIP SID-
NEY was familiar with equestrianism: He participated in
tilts at court on several occasions between 1574 and
- At the same time, the CONCEIT that Love rides the
lover as an equestrian rides a horse is a conventional
Petrarchan one.
The fi rst quatrain sets up Astrophil’s comparison
through a CHIASMUS in line three, where Astrophil tells
us that he is “a horseman to [his] horse, a horse to
Love.” Placing the word horse in the middle of the chi-
asmus is consistent with the “great chain of being” of
Renaissance cosmography, in which humanity stands
in the middle of a chain connecting the divine (Love as
a god) to the animal world (the horse). Thus, when
Astrophil refers to himself as a beast in line four, it is
with reference to humanity’s position between the gods
and the beasts, partaking partly in both. The word
descrie means both to observe and to reveal, so that
Astrophil both observes his own faults or wrongs and
reveals them to us in his poetry.
The last four lines of the OCTAVE as well as the fi rst
three of the SESTET extend the metaphor by which Love
“rides” Astrophil like a horse. The humility that love
has stirred in Astrophil is compared to reins. Love’s
“raines” are connected to the bit that fi ts in the horse’s
mouth, by which the rider controls the “Reverence.” In
line 7, Astrophil makes a pun on a “guilt boss” on the
bit. A boss is a decorative knob on the bit; a gilt boss
has been gilded, usually in gold. Here, gilt is spelled
“guilt”—fear and guilt restrain Astrophil’s passions.
Moreover, the boss on Astrophil’s metaphorical bit is
gilt not with gold but with “Hope,” illustrating the rela-
tionship among fear, hope, and guilt in the unrequited
lover: The hope of having a sexual encounter attracts
the lover, but this hope conceals the guilt the lover
feels at the possibility of sexually defi ling his pure
beloved. Astrophil’s “Will” is fi gured as the whip or
“Wand,” spurring on his desire. “Fancie,” which Astro-
phil fi gures as the saddle, compares to fantasy—Astro-
phil’s fulfi llment.
Critics have read this SONNET as a platonic ALLEGORY
of love, noting that in Plato’s Phaedrus the soul is com-
pared to a two-horse chariot driven by a charioteer, and
certainly both Sidney and Petrarch were familiar with
Plato. As well, Astrophil relates that he takes “delight”
in being ridden by Love, similar to the way Plato
describes human progress toward enlightenment—
from loving base objects to preferring rarifi ed things.
Other critics see the poem as Astrophil’s moral and psy-
chological descent from reason into animal passion.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW).
FURTHER READING
Lovejoy, Arthur O. The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the
History of an Idea. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1936.
Joel B. DavisAstrophil and Stella: Sonnet 52 (“A strife is
grown between Virtue and Love”) SIR PHILIP
SIDNEY (ca. 1582) In Sonnet 52, Astrophil humor-
ously imagines the struggle between erotic desire and
moral injunctions against fulfi lling it as a legal case
between the personifi ed fi gures of Love and “Vertue”
(Virtue). Though this is an ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SON-
NET in form, the VOLTA unmistakably occurs not
between the OCTAVE and the SESTET at line 9, but rather
in the witty COUPLET at the end.
The fi rst two lines outline the whole of the meta-
phorical lawsuit: both Virtue and Love lay claim to
Stella, as if she were an object or, perhaps, a prized
servant. In the rest of the fi rst QUATRAIN, Love claims
that because Stella’s “eyes” and “lips” are sexually
attractive, they wear his “badge” as a servant wears the
livery of his master. The second quatrain sets out the
grounds of Virtue’s claim to Stella. Virtue’s argument is
that the real Stella is not her mere body but, instead,
“that vertuous soule” (l. 7). Though Virtue admits that
Stella’s “outside” is beautiful and that it attracts “our
hearts,” he maintains that Stella’s outer beauty is not
her essence. In the fi rst part of the sestet, Astrophil
sums up Virtue’s case, once again admitting that
although Stella’s “beauty” and her “grace” belong to
Love, nevertheless Love may not claim a place in Stel-
la’s “selfe,” again meaning her soul.
The second part of the sestet is an APOSTROPHE in
which Astrophil turns to address Love directly. Here52 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA: SONNET 49