Sidney n Astrophil and Stella q n n

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

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)

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

Petrarchanism/Neoplatonism n Sidney engages this poetic tradition, but also questions it

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

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

In-class scansion n Try the next two lines

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

Sonnet 71 n “Give me some food” Playing with the Neoplatonic tradition

Form matters n Why choose a sonnet? n What is the connection between form and meaning?

Sonnet 1(9 th ed. Page 1084 -50 n n n 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?

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

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

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

Is this a sonnet cycle?

The Figures of the Sonnets n The Young Man n The Rival Poet n The Dark Lady

The Young Man n Who is the Young Man? n What are the implications of autobiographical criticism?

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

Tomb of Mary and Elizabeth

Poetic form n Sonnet 129 (1183 9 th)

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

The Dark Lady n Kim Hall, Things of Darkness

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

Poetry as imaginative literature n 956/1049 Poet as “maker” (956)

Poetry improves humanity n n n 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)

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

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

Neil Gaiman n “telling lies to tell the truth” n What makes the canon?