The Interplay of Love, Reality, and Poetic Imagination: Astrophil and Stella as a Sonnet Sequence

Authors : Aslı Kutluk

Pages : 142-152

View : 50 | Download : 51

Publication Date : 2024-06-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article aims to explore a complicated interplay of the notion of love, the perception of reality, and poetic imagination in Sir Philip Sidney’s famous sonnet sequence, Astrophil and Stella. By looking at the complexities of unreciprocated love and sexual desire, the use of auto/biographical details, and the most important of all, the reflections of poetic imagination, the study briefly examines the echoes of the Petrarchan sonnet tradition in Sidney’s sonnet sequence that he composed in his own distinctive style. Examples selected from one hundred and eight sonnets and eleven songs that articulate Astrophil’s unfulfilled love and desire for Stella unfold the role and importance of the poet’s imagination in constructing the themes of love and beauty in the English sonnet form. The study also reveals the embedded relationship between reality and poetic imagination through auto/biographical details given from Sidney’s own life. Therefore, Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, which is innovative in its employment of the poetic persona, serves as an outstanding sonnet sequence for examining the dynamics of love, reality, and poetic imagination.
Keywords : Sidney, Astrophil, sone dizisi, aşık şair, şiirsel hayal gücü