Astrophil and Stella, 18-22

3. In these particular sonnets Sidney seems to be discussing how the main character was given all of these heavenly gifts, and he spent them leaving him morally bankrupt. Then he met Stella who he now feels unworthy of because loving her brings back all of the bad things that he has done in the past. Every once and a while Sidney uses the word bend or bent, which leads me to believe that the main character is ashamed and wishes to change his ways and alter his path. Sidney also italicizes words such as nature in the first sonnet, but not in others, why is this?

4. So far in this collection, the main character's love for Stella seems to be unattainable as he has made her out to be this divine being who he is completely unworthy of because he has lead the life of a bachelor and spent all of his gifts. Sidney describes the main character's love for Stella in a very heightened way, as in loving Stella pulls him back up and away from his path of moral destruction. Sidney depicts love in a way that makes it seem capable of doing very powerful things to an individual.

5. So far, my interpretations are very typical of Sidney. In my research I found that Sidney was influenced by the Petrarchan style, and in these sonnets he follows this rhyme scheme almost exactly. Many scholars agreed that this is an autobiography of Sidney's life and he is Astrophil and Stella is a woman named Penelope that he was in love with. They came to the conclusion that is is a Romantic poem about his unrequited love that he has for this woman which is supported when he speaks of how much he loves for her but he has to keep himself in check and is therefore not worthy of Stella.

6. As previously mentioned, Sidney follows the Italian or Petrarchan form (abbaabba) and he also makes use of end rhyme to help the poem flow better, it is also written in iambic pentameter. Sidney capitalizes and italicizes words such as reason, nature, Stella, cupid, and love to really stress these words when they are pronounced.