Philip Sidney's "Loving in Truth"

Loving in Truth," is the first in Philip Sidney's sonnet sequence "Astrophel and Stella." The name of the sonnet sequence echo the romance of their rapport: that of Philip Sidney and his lady love. Penelope Devereux. "Astro" in Greek means "star," while "phel" or "phil" implies love .The word 'stella' in Latin signifies 'star'. Therefore, Sidney is a star-lover, his star being his Stella. He orbits around the luminous Stella, who radiates him with her love and warmth.. The poet and his beloved together as a couple represent the Greco-Roman concord of feeling and form. This classical sensibility was revived during the Renaissance and Sidney exemplifies the same in his sonnet This sonnet is written in a hexam­eter, consisting of six two-syllable feet per line

The poet asserts that being truly and sincerely in love with his lady love he attempts to capture his love for her in verse He desires to consecrate his love in poetry so that his beloved would comprehend his agony. The poet juxtaposes two complementary entities in the phrase "pleasure of my pain" to signify the bitter-sweet reality of the feeling of love. The pleasure might enable her to read his poetry; poetry may impart her with knowledge. Knowledge may win her pity and pity may ultimately lead her to grace. For Sidney, his 'heaven' is her Grace. The poet seeks the appropriate words to aptly describe the "the blackest face of woe." The poet by doing so, wishes to bring to light the darkest aspects of his anguish. He first attempts to pen poetry by resorting to inspiration by exploring the works of others. He turns the leaves of others' works. The phrase 'Studying inventions fine" point to studying 'fine' readymade inventions of others. Here the word "fine' functions as an adjective, qualifying the word 'inventions'. On the other hand, the phrase may also be ambiguous in that it refers to his initial poetic theory, according to which, referring to others' works for inspiration is 'fine'. He wants some fresh and fruitful showers to fall upon his sunburnt brain. The idea of rain symbolizes productivity and fertility. His creative abilities are depicted as parched and dry, devoid of freshness.

His writer's block does not allow words to proceed in a smooth manner. A similar idea is echoed in Ted Hughes "Thought-Fox". They come forth 'halting', aspiring for persistent creativity or 'Invention's stay'. 'Invention', the requisite to creativity, is portrayed as Nature's child. It is spontaneous and does not rely on tedious study that is referred to as a typical Step-mother that fosters but only out of compulsion. It is not out of natural instinct. Others' 'feet' seemed strangers in his way. The term 'feet' comes across as a pun here. The term 'feet' may refer to metrical feet here. However, it may also signify the footsteps of the poet's predecessors that he intends to follow. These footsteps only lead him to nowhere. Finally, the Muse appears to him and asks him to look to his heart and write. The Muse may be his Lady love also, since she is the source of his inspiration. What the poet finally arrives at is the reality that genuine inspiration comes from one's heart and not from external considerations. Poetry need not always conform to existing standards, premises and diction. This forms the crux of his poetical theory.