Fifth Song, he calls Stella everything from a murderer
to a tyrant to a devil. While the form of Sonnet 86 fol-
lows the ENGLISH SONNET structure—three quatrains
followed by a fi nal couplet—the content shows Astro-
phil’s struggle with Petrarchan themes, such as the ide-
alization of the beloved. In Astrophil’s eyes, Stella is not
a model of virtue at this point because her change in
temperament seems uncalled-for and she resorts to vio-
lence; instead, Astrophil positions himself as pure of
soul because Stella is “his sole object of felicity” (l. 7).
Astrophil’s distinction between body and soul are also
Petrarchan, refl ecting the Christian struggle between
the pure soul and the impure body. The lover seeks to
use the virtue of the female beloved as inspiration to
overcome the corrupt body, allowing his pure soul a
closer connection to God. The fi nal line of the sonnet,
when Astrophil paradoxically connects Stella’s heaven
with his hell, further illustrates this Petrarchan duality.
In Sonnet 86, Stella’s ongoing cruelty in not return-
ing Astrophil’s love—and her escalating anger in this
sonnet in particular—causes Astrophil’s continuous
suffering. As in earlier sonnets, Astrophil compares
himself to a slave and Stella to his master (l. 9). The
question that arises from this power construction is
whether or not Stella has complete control over Astro-
phil—or if Astrophil chooses to relinquish his power
to her. Is Astrophil a masochist who derives his plea-
sure from self-imposed suffering by intentionally
choosing a beloved who will not reciprocate his love?
If he is a masochist, then the slap becomes a symbolic
act of consummation making the sonnet more Ovidian
than Petrarchan in that, that physical, not spiritual,
connection is the ultimate goal. If Stella represents
either the married Penelope Devereux or Queen ELIZA-
BETH I, as some speculate, then Astrophil and Stella in
general and Sonnet 86 in particular become Sidney’s
way to negotiate his own agency (personal power) and
pleasure in a court ruled by a woman.
See also ASTROPHIL AND STELLA (OVERVIEW).
Lauri S. Dietz
Astrophil and Stella: Sonnet 87 (“When I was
forced from Stella ever dear”) SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
(ca. 1582) Sonnet 87 bewails the separation of
Astrophil from Stella. Astrophil is “forst from Stella” (l.
1) by “iron lawes of duty” (l. 4). His only relief from his
own anguish is the recognition that Stella, too, is griev-
ing. When he hears her sighs and sad words and sees
tears in her eyes, he suffers along with her, but he also
rejoices in these evidences of her love for him. He fi nds
himself in a paradoxical situation: Losing her is “th’
effect most bitter” (l. 12); the cause of her grief (loving
him) seems sweet. He would have been vexed by it if
he had not already been vexed by the situation itself.
Sonnet 87 follows the ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET
structure. The OCTAVE presents the lovers’ separation
and Astrophil’s observations of Stella’s reactions to it.
Sidney parallels the patterns of repetition in the two
QUATRAINs of the octave to underscore the lovers’ unity
even in this division. In the fi rst quatrain, Stella’s name
repeats three times (the only times it appears in the
SONNET). SIR PHILIP SIDNEY exercises a rough rhythm to
underscore Astrophil’s grief. Instead of IAMBIC PENTAM-
ETER, the second line scans as trochee, trochee, iamb,
trochee, iamb. This strategy emphasizes each noun,
and although it maintains the pentameter, the rhythm
is forced into the chaos of mourning that Astrophil
feels for himself and observes in Stella.
The second quatrain describes what Astrophil sees
Stella undergoing. The phrases I found (l. 5) or I saw (ll.
6–7) appear in nearly the same feet as Stella in the pre-
vious quatrain. Astrophil fi nds that she suffers (“did
smart,” l. 5) with him; he sees tears in her eyes, sees
sighs in the opening of her lips, and hears his own sor-
row in her words.
The pattern of experiences in the octave repeats in
the SESTET. In the sestet’s fi rst three lines, Astrophil
reacts to what he observed of Stella’s reactions: “I
wept” because of her tears (“pearles scattered,” l. 9),
“I sighd,” and “[I] wailed” (l. 10). But the sestet intro-
duces an extra dimension of emotion: as well as griev-
ing, Astrophil swims in joy (l. 11) because, for him,
the signs of Stella’s grieving measure the depth of her
love (l. 11). The CHIASMUS in line 14 emphasizes the
paradoxical nature of Astrophil’s suffering—that is,
in effect, he would have been vexed if he were not
already vexed.
In context, this sonnet appears after Songs 5–9, the
longest break in the entire SONNET SEQUENCE. Although
there is no consistent narrative throughout Astrophil62 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA: SONNET 87