Astrophil and Stella

Study Questions

1. How does Sidney represent an internal, private world of love and passion?

2. What is the range of language and image in the sonnet sequence for indicating that interior emotional space?

3. In what ways does the private, hidden self affect the public one?

4. How do the poems present the conflict between the will and desires of the interior self with the externally controlled and regulated public one?

Links

Sir Phillip Sidney, "Astrophil and Stella"

Eastern Mennonite University: "Astrophil and Stella"

Love's Refinement: Metaphysical Expressions of Desire in Philip Sidney and John Donne (Essay)