poems to children, and, extending this metaphor, he
asks his audience not to make his “children” into
“changelings.” Changelings are the offspring of fairies,
left in the place of human children, whom the fairies
would take for their own uses. In Sonnet 28, “change-
lings” are misinterpretations and over-readings of Astro-
phil’s “children.” His poems, he insists, have no meanings
deeper than their obvious declaration of love for Stella.
He is not seeking “brazen fame,” only Stella’s affections;
she is the “Princesse of Beautie” (l. 6). Waxing political,
Astrophil notes that for Stella, submitting to love would
be diffi cult, since “Nations count it shame” to do so (l.
8). Renaissance political theory held that rulers should
follow reason rather than the passions. Stella, as ruler, is
controlled by reason; Astrophil is not.
The SESTET does not make the characteristic VOLTA.
Instead, Astrophil continues to insist that the SONNET
was not written for the sake of “eloquence,” nor was it
written in pursuit of a deeper philosophical goal. Liter-
ary critics, however, do not take Astrophil’s claims at
face value. Some critics emphasize the poem’s self-con-
scious interest in the so-called plain style of rhetoric.
Another school of critics fi nd Platonic philosophy at
work in this sonnet, reading it as Astrophil’s admission
that he is aware of the Platonic ideal of love but unable
to grasp it fully.
Astrophil himself protests that “in pure simplicitie”
his poems only refl ect the “fl ames” of love that burn in
his own heart (l. 12). However, the fi nal line of the
poem undermines Astrophil’s protestations of inno-
cence. He confesses that there is, after all, an “art” in
the poem. When he says that “Love” is “reading” this
art to him, he seems to mean that he has learned the art
of his poetry from Love itself (l. 14). For modern crit-
ics, the question is—which “love”? On one hand, it
could be platonic love; on the other hand, it could be
ordinary erotic love. Both possibilities remain open.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW); SIDNEY, SIR
PHILIP.
Joel B. DavisAstrophil and Stella: Sonnet 31 (“With how sad
steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies”) SIR
PHILIP SIDNEY (ca. 1582) As Sonnet 31 opens, the
speaker, Astrophil, sees the melancholic moon and
addresses it familiarly, deciding that, like him, it suf-
fers from LOVESICKNESS. He goes on to muse about
Cupid’s role in the moon’s lovesickness—has the “busy
archer” managed to shoot the moon with one of his
arrows? Astrophil decides that it is so, and thus the
moon must be lovesick. He is so experienced at being
in love that he can take one look at the moon’s face and
read the longing written there. Since he and the moon
are in a similar position, Astrophil wonders if games of
love are handled the same way in the heavens as they
are on earth: Are those who are consumed with love
treated like fools? Are heavenly women as disdainful as
earthly women? Do they recognize virtue when they
see it?
Sonnet 31 is a fairly standard ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN)
SONNET in form and theme. In the OCTAVE, the speaker
personifi es the moon, addressing it in an APOSTROPHE:
“With how sad steps, O moon, thou climb’st the skies!”
(l. 1). He observes the sadness of the moon and believes
that it, too, is experiencing the woe of unrequited love.
In assuming that the moon, an element of nature,
shares the same feelings as he does, the speaker has
fallen victim to the pathetic fallacy, which is one by-
product of PERSONIFICATION. He also sets himself up as
an experienced lover who can identify love at any dis-
tance based solely on appearances.
In the SESTET, the speaker rhetorically questions the
moon about the capricious nature of beautiful women.
Rhetorical questions serve to reveal the speaker’s feel-
ings about his own situation while presumably talking
about someone else’s circumstances. In this way, he is
distanced from the powerful emotions that threaten to
overwhelm him.
Throughout the poem, the repeated word love serves
both as a reminder of the subject at hand and also as a
metaphorical prison. While the idea of love is implied
in the fi rst four lines, the term is fi rst used outright in
line 5. As the poem moves toward its conclusion, the
word becomes used repeatedly in various forms, as dif-
ferent parts of speech, and it fulfi lls a number of gram-
matical functions. It is part of an adjectival compound
(“long-with-love-acquainted eyes,” l. 5), an object of a
preposition (“of love,” l. 6), a piece of a possessive (“a
lover’s case,” l. 6), a noun (“constant love,” l. 10), a
verb and an infi nitive verb (“Do they above love to be46 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA: SONNET 31