{"id":198,"date":"2025-02-21T12:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T12:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/?page_id=198"},"modified":"2025-02-26T10:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T10:09:15","slug":"sidneys-and-sonnets","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/sidneys-and-sonnets\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonnets, context and form"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a long tradition of romantic poetry, how can one write a sonnet that says \u2018I love you\u2019 in a natural and original way? <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), published in 1591 in a sequence entitled Astrophil and Stella, <\/i>address this question. The paradox of being natural<\/em> and highly artificial<\/em> at the same time is mirrored in the formal gardens of Sidney\u2019s family home, Penshurst Place. They are highly-patterned, artistic re-shapings of nature, both public and private spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the gardens, Sidney\u2019s sonnets are a public display of artistic skill and, at the same time, expressions of \u2018loving in truth\u2019, supposedly showing the natural, private passions of the heart. We can see the paradox of public and private, natural and artificial, in Sidney\u2019s opening sonnet: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show
\n<\/span>That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain
\n<\/span>Pleasure might cause her read, and reading might make her know
\n<\/span>Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
\n<\/span>I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
\n<\/span>Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain;
\n<\/span>Oft turning others\u2019 leaves, to see if thence would flow
\n<\/span>Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
\n<\/span>But words came halting forth, wanting Invention\u2019s stay,
\n<\/span>Invention, Nature\u2019s child, fled stepdame Study\u2019s blows,
\n<\/span>And others\u2019 feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
\n<\/span>Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
\n<\/span>Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite
\n<\/span>\u2018Fool\u2019 said my Muse to me, \u2018look in thy heart and write\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The speaker \u2018Astrophil\u2019 (star lover) struggles to express his true feelings to his mistress Stella (the star), but must battle through a tradition of love poetry. His \u2018invention\u2019 is thwarted: how can he find an original way of saying \u2018I love you\u2019? He is smothered: \u2018Oft turning others\u2019 leaves\u2019 (or pages) in his study. <\/span><\/p>\n

Reading the poem in the context of the formal gardens is informative. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Both are imitations of Italian Renaissance models. Sidney\u2019s poems adapt the sonnet form – 14 lines of intricately rhymed verse – invented by Petrarch (1304-74), one of the poets whose \u2018leaves\u2019 intimidate Astrophil. The terrace garden (above), which was designed by Sidney\u2019 father and remains to this day, is also an imitation of Italian Renaissance forms. It consists of highly-wrought shapes like the patterns in Sidney\u2019s sonnet (see how pain\/pleasure read\/reading know\/knowledge are intertwined in the first 4 lines). <\/span><\/p>\n

Just as Sidney imitates former sonneteers, the redeveloped gardens at Penshurst imitate the Renaissance in their use of formal lines, heraldry, <\/span>and tall hedges which create private \u2018bowers\u2019 like outdoor rooms (see Gardens and Grounds Interactive Map<\/a> via Penshurst Place website).<\/span><\/p>\n

The paradox of artistry and nature, flamboyant display and secret concealment characterizes both the gardens and the sonnet. The poet Sidney\u2019s feelings are concealed under layers of coding and convention, even though Astrophil says he wants to show the truth of his feelings in verse.
\n\"\"
\nThe very last line of the poem provides an answer: \u201c\u2018Fool,\u201d said my muse to me, \u201clook in thy heart and write\u201d\u2019. He is to write straight from the heart. The only problem is that the sonnet is ended! His true feelings are beyond the reach of the sonnet, still hidden, just as intimate assignations in the romantic gardens at Penshurst might be concealed in the secret, garden rooms.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a long tradition of romantic poetry, how can one write a sonnet that says \u2018I love you\u2019 in a natural and original way? The sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), published in 1591 in a sequence entitled Astrophil and Stella, address this question. The paradox of being natural and highly artificial at the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1202,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-198","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/cmda-testarea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}