The Delineation of Passion in Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella

Abstract

The research tries to approach Philip Sidney (1554-1586) as a model of passionate poet and lover. Through the extensive influence of Greeks’ and Petrarch's love sonnet cycles, Sidney wrote his sonnets about the abject knightly lover, to suit his prime purpose of delineating the uncontrollable passion, who is condemned by the coldness of his beloved. It also examines the delineation of passion in Sidney’s sonnets cycle, namely Astrophil and Stella, in which selected sonnets as well as songs revolve around the uncontrollable passion of a sorrowful and burning lover, who falls in love, and experiences the agony of rejections and the effects of betrayal by his beloved. It often expresses Astrophil’s pain and frustration at Stella’s diffidence. Sidney carries these passionate topics beyond their predictable limitations, using them simply to begin a discourse. For that matter, through the convention and the influence of Petrarch, Sidney portrayed passion in his sonnets and his songs, breathing into it, a lyrical melody, a meditative energy and an aesthetic interest, transforming the entire sonnet cycle into a personal direct statement.