Sonnet 1

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1591

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Sidney uses some of the elements of traditional English and Italian sonnets but changes others in “Sonnet 1.” It has 14 lines, maintaining the formal aspect of length seen in sonnets by Henry Howard and Thomas Wyatt earlier in the 1500s. However, Sidney doesn’t use iambic pentameter like his English predecessors; his lines have 12 syllables, instead of 10 syllables. His 12-syllable line, with six iambic feet, can be called an alexandrine. After Sidney’s death, Edmund Spenser famously used the alexandrine in some—but not all—of the lines in his Spenserian stanzas that structure The Faerie Queene (See: Further Reading & Resources). The two men shared a love of formal poetry that uses this metrical structure, such as French poetry. Sidney even includes a pun in “Sonnet 1” about how the poem changes the traditional meter: “[O]thers’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way” (Line 11). The feet he is referring to are the five iambic feet of what became the most popular meter in English—iambic pentameter—used by Wyatt and Howard before him. Sidney finds this formal element “strange” and restrictive, so he breaks with tradition.

Sidney and Spenser also used excessive rhymes in their sonnets. However, Sidney changes his rhyme scheme and meter throughout Astrophil and Stella. “Sonnet 1” has the rhyme scheme ABAB ABAB CDCD EE. The initial and second rhyme sounds repeat for two quatrains. The repetition of the B rhyme here can be compared to the B rhyme in Spenser’s sonnets: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. Both forms of sonnets have the B rhyme appear four times. Other sonneteers, like Shakespeare, used fewer rhymes. The B rhyme only appears twice in the Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. All of these renaissance sonneteers used the final rhyming couplet, which is distinct to the English form, not the Italian form. Sidney does use the Italian volta, or turn, in his poem. His direction of thought changes between the octave and the sestet (the eighth and ninth lines), as in the sonnets of Francesco Petrarch.

Personification

Sidney also uses personification in “Sonnet 1.” He turns the abstract concepts of study and nature into proper nouns, capitalizing them like the names of people. They are also characterized as human in their actions: “Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows” (Line 10)—Nature is the biological parent of Invention, while Study is the abusive stepmother of Invention. These characterizations highlight how “Invention” (Line 10), a reference to creativity, should be natural and unforced, while the act of research is a grueling, masochistic one. It can also be argued that invention is personified, but only some editions of Sidney’s poem capitalize “invention” when it is not at the beginning of the line (all the lines begin with a capital letter), such as in Line 9: “But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay.” Invention is a child who runs away from Study. This represents how creativity leaves the speaker when he spends too much time reading instead of reflecting and writing.

Repetition

Sidney repeats words and sounds in “Sonnet 1.” The words “pleasure” and “she” repeat: “That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain, / Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know” (Lines 2-3). The repetition of the feminine presence of the beloved, she, highlights how women are elevated in the sonnet tradition. They are on a pedestal above the men who write poems about them, with the power to inflict pain. Petrarch’s poems made famous the idea of the cruel mistress—a feminine figure who only gives the poet pain by rejecting him. Embracing this idea, Sidney wants his beloved to take pleasure in the fact that he suffers from loving her. He also wants her pleasure from watching him suffer in love to result in her reading his poetry. The repetition of pleasure, then, is a response and an impetus. It is a response to Sidney’s courtship and an impetus to consume his work.

Sidney also repeats letter sounds (alliteration) throughout the sonnet. In Lines 2-3, the letter “p” is at the beginning of the words “pleasure” and “pain.” This repetition emphasizes how the feelings are similar—the pleasure of love is painful to Sidney, and his pain gives his beloved pleasure. Another example of alliteration in “Sonnet 1” is the letter “f.” It appears three times in three lines: “But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay: / Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows, / And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way” (Lines 9-11). The words beginning with “f” sounds are words about movement—“forth,” “fled,” and “feet,” the appendages that are used to flee. These connect with previous lines containing the letter “f,” such as “to see if thence would flow” (Line 7). Fluid movement, and the seemingly effortless flow of language, are part of a similar aesthetic ideal.