Astrophil Stella Sidney

Sidney in Theory and Practice

Sidney Philip is an outstanding figure in the Renaissance literary tradition. The years 1450-1625 are the first age of the Renaissance, and here historians are concerned with the social setting of the “re-birth” as much as with the artistic achievement itself. In poetry, not only did its dominant themes of courtly love and the knightly romance reflect the values and interests of the nobility, they also answered to the social reality of life. In this historical epoch, Sidney Philip raised an important question concerning the role of poetry and its impact on virtues, and its deductive role in forming values of readers.

Thesis statement: In contrast to practical and theoretical ideas expressed in the Defence of Poetry, Sidney Philip does not follow precisely all principles he established for poetry.

In his most famous sequence of poems “Astrophel and Stella” Sidney provides his own obituary, declaring, among other things, that fair liberty is vital. The novelty that Sidney cherished was less intellectual than moral and his approach to the role of poetry and its deductive nature offer a consistent challenge to readers own reasoning powers to find a way through the maze of epics and imagination.

“Is gone; and now, like slaue-borne Muscouite, I call it praise to suffer tyrannie”.

In the Defence of Poetry, Sidney justifies that a sensible and comprehensive control over human affairs can be learnt from poetry. It is possible to disagree with this statement because in “Astrophel and Stella” Sidney appeals to emotions of readers but it does not means that sensitivity can be learned. In theory, Sidney reflects Boccaccio interpretation of poetry who supposes that the nature of poetry is a high-toned and serious-minded, and sensitivity can be learned from poetry. In practice, Sidney follows Dante and Petrarch who had rejected the low estimate of poetry and preached emotional impact on readers. Nevertheless, this approach does not coincide with the notion that poetry comprehensive control over human affairs can be learnt.

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