Image. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience. Try to identify the main image in this poem as you read.
Personification. Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea, animal, or thing is described as if it were a person. The moon is personified in this selection. Keep track of human characteristics attributed to the moon.
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Sonnet 31 is part of the sonnet cycle Astrophil and Stella, which generally follows the sonnet conventions established by Petrarch. The rhyme scheme is Petrarchan: abba abba cdcd ee. So is the subject: unrequited, or unreturned, love. Petrarch addressed his poems to an unattainable woman named Laura. Sidney addressed his to Stella, whose name means “star.” Sidney’s speaker, Astrophil, or “star-lover,” expresses many of the complex emotions of a person in love. Sidney used dialogue to express Astrophil’s mental state, including everyday speech and internal conversations, or interior monologues.
Much of the best of Elizabethan literature was private work, circulated among people in the queen’s court. One way to obtain favor with the queen and other powerful figures was to be amusing, or witty. Wittiness therefore became a central feature of literature of the period, which employs elaborate conceits and word play. In Sonnet 31, the speaker uses an exaggerated metaphor, personifying and addressing the moon. The moon has long been a symbol of faithlessness, or inconstancy, because its appearance changes throughout the month. In this poem, Astrophil asks the moon if in the heavenly sphere, as on Earth, constancy, or faithfulness, is considered lack of wit.
Describe somebody you admire.
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