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Sidney

Sidney. Astrophil and Stella Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich Sonnet Italian Sonnet cycle—first recognizable one in English 108 sonnets and 11 songs Way of looking at a collection of sonnets rather than a “ plot ”. Neoplatonism. “ Divine Beauty ” through an “ earthly lover ”

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Sidney

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  1. Sidney • Astrophil and Stella • Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich • Sonnet • Italian • Sonnet cycle—first recognizable one in English • 108 sonnets and 11 songs • Way of looking at a collection of sonnets rather than a “plot”

  2. Neoplatonism “Divine Beauty” through an “earthly lover” “material world is a path to the spiritual world, rather than an obstacle to or diversion from it” (Murfin and Ray, 292)

  3. Petrarchanism--Neoplatonism • Petrarch—14th c. Italian poet, Francesco Petrarca • Sonnet form plus distinctive use of: • Imagery • Figures of speech • Formal style • Petrarchan conceit (exaggerated portrait of lady’s beauty and cruelty) • Hyperbole • Oxymoron

  4. Petrarchanism/Neoplatonism • Sidney engages this poetic tradition, but also questions it

  5. Sonnet form • 14 lines rhymed iambic pentameter • 2 forms for Sidney/Shakespeare • Italian/Petrarchan • Abba abba cdc dee (usually) • English/Shakespearean • abab cdcd efef gg • Mapping a sonnet

  6. Considering scansion Son 71 (1095 9th) • Who will in fairest booke of nature know • How virtue may best lodged in beauty be, • Let him but learn of love to read in thee, • Stella, those fairlines which truegoodness show. • There shall he find all vices overthrow, • Not by rude force, but sweetest sovereignty

  7. In-class scansion • Try the next two lines

  8. Of reason, from whose light those night-birds fly, • That inward sun in thine eyes shineth so.

  9. Sonnet 71 • “Give me some food” Playing with the Neoplatonic tradition

  10. Form matters • Why choose a sonnet? • What is the connection between form and meaning?

  11. Sonnet 1(9th ed. Page 1084-50 • Look in thy heart and write • Sonnet is about love, but also about writing and style, about “invention” • Some elements to know: alexandrine (iambic hexameter), “fain” (l. 1), childbirth metaphor, • How does the poem flow? • Does the lady get to speak?

  12. Sonnet 31(page 1090 9th ed) • Personification of the Moon • Speaker standing outside the courtly world • Opening monosyllables and repetitions

  13. Sonnet 9(page 1086-7 9th ed) • Petrarchan convention (see also sonnet 6) • “Rich” • Penelope Rich, an idealized love, Queen Elizabeth?

  14. Shakespeare’s Sonnets • Form: 3 Quatrains/Couplet • abab cdcd efef gg • The sonnet vogue • Shakespeare as icon and the perils of autobio-crit.

  15. Is this a sonnet cycle?

  16. The Figures of the Sonnets • The Young Man • The Rival Poet • The Dark Lady

  17. The Young Man • Who is the Young Man? • What are the implications of autobiographical criticism?

  18. The Young Man • Many references to time • Sonnet 3 (1171, 9th) • Sonnet 19 (1173 9th) • Sonnet 55 (1175 9th) • Sonnet 65 (1176 9th)

  19. Tomb of Mary and Elizabeth

  20. Poetic form • Sonnet 129 (1183 9th)

  21. The Dark Lady • Sonnet 130 (p. 1184 9th) • Sonnet 127 (p. 1183, 9th) Often read in relation to Petrarchan convention

  22. The Dark Lady • Kim Hall, Things of Darkness

  23. The Defence of Poesy • Three types of poets p. 958/1052 • Vates—Prophets • Philosophical Poets • “Right” poets—”to teach and delight” • (echo of Chaucer’s “sentence and solaas?)

  24. Poetry as imaginative literature Poet as “maker” (956) • 956/1049

  25. Poetry improves humanity • Delivering a golden world (957/1050) • Cyrus (957/1050) • Erected wit/infected will (957/1050) • Poetry draws us to perfection (neoplatonic) (959/1052) • Architectonike (960/1053)

  26. Charges Against Poetry • P. 967/1066 • Waste of time • Mother of lies • Nurse of abuse

  27. Sidney’s response • “No learning is so good as that which teacheth and moveth to virtue” (967/1068) • “of all writers under the sun the poet is the least liar” (967/1068)

  28. Neil Gaiman • “telling lies to tell the truth” • What makes the canon?

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