Short Questions

What are the various stages the poet goes through before he falls in love?

The poem, 'Astrophil and Stella', is a famous poem written by Sir Philip Sidney in which he describes the ups and downs of the relationship of Astrophil & Stella. He describes how he falls in love with Stella and how much pain & suffering he is enduring because of it. He tells us that he does not fall in love with Stella ' at first sight but he was gradually charmed into doing so. He expresses how he goes through the stages before falling in love, he says that 'I saw and liked, liked but loved not, loved but didn't obey its commands, obeyed with a rebellious attitude and lost even a wish to be free' and he lost his freedom & become a slave of love.

Describe the rhyme scheme of the sonnet. Also, give examples of alliteration and assonance from the sonnet.

The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is 'abbaabba ededee', Here the poet follows Italian stanza form which is also known as, Petrarchan sonnet, It has divided into two parts - the octave-a stanza of eight lines and the sestet - a stanza of six lines. The octave has a rhyme scheme. "abbaabba' and 'sestet has a rhyme scheme- 'ededee'.

The poet freely used poetic devices such as 'Alliteration and 'Assonance', in the poem. The lines, 'Which while I breathe will bleed and 'I saw and liked, I liked but loved not', are an example of 'Alliteration'. The lines, 'at length to love's decrees' and 'Footsteps of lost liberty' are an example of 'Assonance'.

What is the meaning of the last two lines of the sonnet? Is the poet happy to be in love?

In the poem, 'Astrophil & Stella', the poet expresses his grief of falling in love. He tells us that, having fallen in love with Stella, he has lost his personal freedom & become a slave of love. In the last couplet of the poem, the poet claims "To make myself believe that all is well, while with a feeling skill I paint my hell'. He suggests from this line that he now tries to convince or fool himself that he is fine while in fact falling in love is hell. And try to convince himself that all is well. Here, we saw that the poet is not happy in falling in love because he thỉnk that he has lost his personal freedom & become a slave of love. Surely, we can say that the poet is in grief, in sorrow.