Sir Philip Sidney’s
Astrophel and Stella: Sonnet No. 1
Comments and Paraphrase
Dr Santanu Niyogi
Assistant Professor of English
Raniganj Girls’ College
Searsole Rajbari
PINCODE: 713212
Comments on Astrophel and Stella: Sonnet No. 1
LOVING in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That She, dear She, might take some pleasure of my pain;
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain;
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe, 5 circle of the society circulated in the
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain;
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay;
Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows;
And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite.
“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write!”
Comment [SN1]: In the closing
decades of the 16th century, sonnets
composed by the poets mostly belonging
to the Elizabethan court and the elite
manuscript form.
The poet expects the woman he is in love
to read his sonnets. This expectation
indicates that the women of elite families
were educated enough to find pleasure in
literary works.
Comment [SN2]: “Invention” here
10 means a poetic composition or a poem. A
poem is a work of art. It is a created,
hence invented piece.
Comment [SN3]: Here the normal
word order has been inverted. Usually an
adjective precedes the noun it modifies.
But here the adjective ‘fine’ follows the
noun ‘inventions’. So it should be
understood as “fine inventions”.
Comment [SN4]: “Step-dame” means
a step-mother.
Comment [SN5]: It is a pun with these
variations of meaning: 1. Other’s steps 2.
Other’s verses containing metrical feet.
Comment [SN6]: Like a pregnant
woman with a swollen womb.
Santanu Niyogi Page 1 of 3
Paraphrase of
Loving in Truth (Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet No. I)

(Always bear in mind that in this paraphrase the personal pronouns ‘I’ ‘me’ and ‘my’ refer to the
persona of the poet)

Lines 1-4
Being truthfully in love and trying to express my emotion of love in poetry so that my
dear beloved might take some pleasure out of my pain. The pain may be twofold. First, it may
refer to his desire to express his love which has not yet been fulfilled. Secondly, he desires to
express his emotion through verse compositions i.e. poetry. Composing poetry is also a painful
process. The speaker believes that his beloved might read his poetic composition with the
intention of getting aesthetic pleasure. In the process of reading the poem she will get to know
about the speaker’s love for her. Her knowledge of the speaker’s love for her might inspire the
emotion of pity in her. And finally the speaker hopes that the emotion of pity will give way to
graceful reciprocation.

Lines 5-8

I tried to find out the most appropriate words or expressions by studying excellent poems
to delineate or portray my present mental state which is like the blackest face of sorrow. My aim
is to entertain her intellectual faculty by my poetic creations. Often I turned the leaves of
manuscripts of poetic works composed by other poets (the great poets of antiquity) to see if from
there fresh and creative showers would flow to turn my creative mind productive which at
present is like a barren field exposed to the elements.

Lines 9-12

But the process of imitating the great poets of antiquity did not yield any fruitful result
for me. During my attempts of composition, words occurred to me intermittently (“halting
forth”) – not spontaneously – resulting in incomplete poetic endeavours. Invention or poetry
comes into being as the result of a natural process. So when I tried to compose poetry applying
my knowledge of the poetic conventions and devices it fled away the blows of “Study” or
informed attempts on my part. For poetry, “Study” – which leads to informed and artificial mode
of composition – is like a step-mother who is always castigatory in her attitude to her step-child
poetry which is a progeny of nature. In my personal and therefore unique way of expressing my
emotion of love through poetry, the poets of antiquity or their compositions behaved like
strangers or unaccustomed travellers. As I could not successfully vent out my emotion through
poetry, I helplessly suffered agony like a pregnant woman in labour.

Santanu Niyogi Page 2 of 3

Lines 9-12

My pen was behaving like a student who was unwilling to attend school (not amenable to
discipline) and I sought relief from this frustration and pain of pent up emotion by self-
castigation. Finally the desired relief came from my Muse who advised me to give vent to my
emotions in a natural and spontaneous way (“look into thy heart and write”).

Santanu Niyogi Page 3 of 3