Desire, though thou my old companion art,

And oft so clings to my pure love, that I

One from the other scarcely can descry*, distinguish
While each doth blow the fire of my heart;
Now from thy fellowship I needs must part;
Venus is taught with Dian's wings to fly,
I must no more in thy sweet passions lie,
Virtue's gold now must head my Cupid's dart.
Service and honour, wonder with delight,
Fear to offend, well worthy to appear,
Care shining in mine eyes, faith in my sprite:
These things are left me by my only dear;
But thou, Desire, because thou wouldst have all,
Now banish'd art; but yet, alas! how shall?
 Astrophil and Stella: Sonnet 72

This poem dramatizes the conflict between Desire and love, especially as it relates to

what the speaker wants to do and what he knows he should do. The speaker acknowledges

desire as his old friend but recognizes that he must leave desire behind in order to pursue love.

He addresses Desire and bids him farewell: “Now from thy fellowship I needs must part” (5).

He draws a parallel to this goodbye when the speaker states “I must no more in thy sweet

passions lie” (7). The speaker proceeds to contrast his parting from Desire with his turn towards

love, giving allusions to Roman mythology and noting how love is made from chastity, not

desire: “Venus is taught with Dian’s wings to fly” (6). After referencing Venus and Diana, he

then goes to reference Cupid, demonstrating the need for true love to lead his actions instead of

lustful love when he says that “Virtue’s gold now must head my Cupid’s dart” (8). The speaker

provides Desire with examples explaining why they must part and a hesitancy to do so,

implicating his desire for Desire.

Despite the fact that the speaker focuses on the conflict between Desire and love, he first

compares the two together. He begins the poem with an apostrophe, addressing Desire directly,

although Desire, being an abstract concept, does not literally listen. The speaker continues to say

that “I [the speaker] / One from the other scarcely can descry”, elaborating that he can barely tell

love from desire, as they both “blow the fire of my [the speaker] heart” (2-4). The metaphor of

the ‘fire in his heart’ has a double meaning in its relation to desire and love. When applied to

love, the fire represents his burning passion for Stella. In contrast, when the phrase is applied to

desire, the fire represents his eternal damnation, and his heart exhibits the fact that the speaker

damns himself from his very core through a quest for desire.

The speaker continues with his abbaabbacdcdee Petrarchan rhyme scheme in the second
quatrain, where the speaker now highlights the differences between love and desire. He realizes

that he must part from desire, which represents sin, in order to save his own soul. He justifies

this by alluding to Venus and Diana, clarifying that true love results from chastity and virtue

instead of desire and sin. The speaker still desires Desire at this point as evidenced by him

saying that he must travel away from Desire’s “sweet passions” (7). The speaker then faces

away from Desire, recognizing that “Virtue’s gold must head my Cupid’s dart” (8). He hides the

double meaning of phallus using the words “head” with “Cupid’s dart”, which is an arrow of

love. The arrow of love can be interpreted as a long, straight object which pierces things with

the intention of love. The speaker actually states that he must copulate out of chastity versus

lust. The arrow with gold on its tip may also refer to Sir Philip Sidney’s Coat of Arms: A blue

arrow superimposed upon a golden shield.

The rhyme scheme changes to cdcd in the third quatrain, where the poem also turns. He

begins to list virtues that Stella left him, beginning with “Service and honour”, and “wonder with

delight” (9). The speaker now continues to justify his leaving Desire, becoming more confident

as the sonnet progresses. The virtues which he lists cannot exist with a selfish desire, yet require

a desire in some regard in order to exist. Service calls for the desire to serve, honor needs the

desire for honor, and wonder with delight entails a desire for learning and curiosity. He then

goes to parallel the first line of the quatrain with the next. “Fear to offend” parallels honor, as in

offending, one loses his honor, and “will worthy to appear” parallels wonder with delight, as the

revelation of the will relates to the curiosity of wonder with delight (10). He realizes that these

virtues were left to him out of true love by “my only dear [Stella]”, and comes to the definite

conclusion that he must rid himself of Desire (12).

The speaker continues the iambic pentameter rhythm in the last two ee rhyming lines.
This heroic couplet at the end of the sonnet reflects the speaker’s ultimate decision to separate

himself from Desire. The speaker says that because “thou, Desire, because thou wouldst have

all, / Now banish’d art, but yet alas how shall?” (13-14). The speaker recognizes the fact that he

must part with Desire, as Desire will eclipse all the virtues that Stella gave him. However, he

does not know how he will do so, as Desire is very powerful, and the speaker feels that he will

have trouble ridding himself of Desire.