Practising what he preaches? Theory and
Poetic realism in Sir Philip Sidney's Defense
of Poesy and Astrophil and Stella
Satadru Ghatak,
Student
of English Literature (M.A.),
Calcutta University,
Kolkata,
West Bengal, India.
Abstract: This paper
explores a complementary relationship between Philip Sideney's theoretical
masterpiece The Defense of Poesy, and
his famous sonnet sequence Astrophil
and Stella. While critics often raised issues about the apparent
disjunction between the idealised, moral theoretical function of art which is
advocated in The Defense of Poesy
and his erotic and earthly frustrations depicted in Astrophil and Stella, this study shows how Sidney's creative
practice doesn't contradict but fulfills his theoretical framework. Grounded in
protestant theology, Sidney's theoretical work relies on the relationship
between 'erected wit’ or humanity's capacity or potential to conceive divine and
'infected will’ the post lapsarian corruption of human's morality and desire.
Sidney doesn't subvert his principles rather than utilising psychological
realism in Astrophil and Stella
to construct Astrophil as a case study of the 'infected will’. Through a
comparative analysis this study examines how Sidney defends the lyric form
against puritan attacks by using Astrophil's moral compromises and despair as a
negative moral exemplar. Sidney shows that lyric poetry can also guide the
reader's towards virtue not only through overt didacticism but through showing
the tragic consequences of unbridled earthly passion.
Keywords: Infected will, Erected Wit, Renaissance lyric poetry, Poetic
realism, Christian theology
Introduction
In the year 1579 Stephen Gosson's The School of Abuse
ignited a fierce debate around Renaissance England, he primarily attacked poets
and dramatists for corrupting the minds by promoting lust and promoting
effeminacy. The threat Gosson highlights majorly was how poetry makes a young
mind detach from heroic spirits and indulge into idle lust, he accused love
poetry as 'piping of pleasure’. As an accomplished poet and courtier Philip
Sidney wrote The Defense of Poesy as a counter manifesto and replied
that poetry works as an ultimate instrument of moral education which can make
virtue attractive in this fallen world.
But this theoretical battle doesn't stop here. Shortly after writing his
defense, he composed Astrophil and Stella, a sonnet sequence which
appears to immerse in the earthly passions in an obsessive manner which Gosson
condemns. As Sidney claims poetry should elevate human beings, scholars argue
that a treatise which demands that art should teach and delight at the same
time can be reconciled with a sequence depicting an overly emotional and
excessive obsession. But if analysed properly this can be understood that Astrophil
and Stella is not the subversion or contradiction of The Defense of
Poesy but its direct practical application. Sidney completely avoids
depicting a pristine hero but relies on protestant theology to depict human
frailty. By examining how The Defense reclaims lyric poetry from his
detractors, this paper explores how in the sonnet sequence Sidney uses
psychological realism to make Astrophil moral unraveling a cautionary lesson
and proves that Sidney's creative practice faithfully implements his
theoretical design.
Literature review
Scholars remain divided whether Sidney's Astrophil and
Stella justifies or fulfils the moral framework established in The
Defense of Poesy. Prompted by Stephen Gosson's attack on poems, Sidney
states that literature must move humans towards virtue. However, formalist
critics like CS Lewis views Astrophil and Stella as an exploration of
erotic failure and abandoned his moral aim. Didactic scholars like Thomas P.
Roche Jr. argue that Sidney's Defense functions as a rigid moral sermon whereas
his sonnet sequence as a flat negative exemplar. However this reading ignores
the deep psychological realism and emotional nuance Sidney gives to his protagonist.
Recent historic critics such as Alan Sinfield and Andrew
Weiner offer a middle path by framing Sidney's work through protestant
theology- specially the post fall tension between the erected wit( intellect)
and inflected will(corrupted desire) . Yet, there is a clear research gap as
existing scholarships treat the ‘infected will’ as an abstract theological
concept rather than examining the specific poetic mechanics through which it
operates. This paper fills the gap by showing how poetic realism functions as a
bridge between Sidney's theory and practice. It demonstrates by realistically
showing Astrophil's psychological unraveling rather than offering a heavy
handed sermon, Sidney uses lyric poetry to construct a negative moral exemplar
that fulfils his theoretical design.
Analysis
Sir Philip Sidney begins his theoretical work The Defense
of Poesy with a lighthearted anecdote of his learning the art of horse
riding with his friend Edward Wotton from Giovanni Pietro Pugliano at the court
of Holy Roman Emperor. Pugliano relates the art of horse riding with the
aristocratic ideals it embodies. Infact Sidney joked that how Pugliano almost
persuaded him to wish himself a horse. The story serves not merely a purpose of
trivial anecdote but it functions as a crucial rhetorical threshold. Pugliano's
persuasive skills demonstrate the foundational premise which unites Sidney's
prose treatise with his sonnet sequence: true poetry is not a cold exercise or
abstract philosophy but a force capable of moving people. Writing in response
to Gosson's puritan manifesto ‘The School of Abuse’ which accused poetry of
corrupting youth and encouraging them to immerse themselves into idle lust.
Sidney constructs a counter argument which reclaims lyric verse as an instrument
of moral education in this fallen world.
In order to dismantle Gosson's charges, Sidney first turns
to classical authority, adopting the Aristotle concept of mimesis(imitation)
from Poetic, but Sidney redefines mimesis not as a mere copying of the
physical world, but as a creative representation of ‘what may be and should
be’. Sidney also talks about the idea of 'fore-conceit’ where the genius of the
poet comes out with his creation. In ancient Greece a poet was called a
'poietes’ or a 'maker’. Sidney parallels poets with God here, like God the poet
is also the creator or 'the heavenly maker of that maker’, whose elevation of
humankind is nowhere more visible than human beings’ ability to perfect God's
nature through poetry. Sidney uses the metaphor of a 'speaking picture’ which
teaches and delights at the same time. While comparing history and philosophy,
Sidney says that history remains bound to what actually has happened in the
fallen world, while philosophy remains trapped in such abstract ideas which fail
to move humans.
Sidney States, the final end of learning is to move
imperfect humans as good as possible. Poetry does that better than any other
branches of learning, because study of subjects like music, mathematics,
astronomy, philosophy do not compel one to be virtuous but they are mere 'serving sciences’- means to the end of some
immediate knowledge. For example a horseman rides well to participate in some
soldiery. The arts that should serve the ultimate, not proximate and deserve to
be considered 'princes over all the rest’, Sidney feels poetry is such an art.
Sidney also reverted Plato's attack to poetry by saying; Plato didn't condemn
poetry itself, but targeted the cultural misuses of poetry in his era,
specifically the depiction of licentious Gods that led society into idolatry.
By this way Plato is subscribing himself to the power of poetry. Poetry is an
instrument which can't be inherently vice but it can be misused by corrupt
writers.
Sidney focuses to elevate his defense to divine authority as
Sidney frames Christian scriptures as the ultimate poetic achievement. He
specifically talks about King David Psalms. Sidney is a Christian writing to a
Christian audience, so it makes his argument more effective to show that the
classical pagan ideas about poetry were shared by religious writers like David
as his psalms are poetic, with metaphors and similes. Also, Sidney links his
defense with religious virtue to defend the charge that poetry corrupts the
moral of its audience. The biblical ground is essential: King David was not an
unblemished, idealized hero but a deeply flawed human who sinned and
experienced intense earthly passions. Sidney positions David's emotional
personal lyricism as the pinnacle of poetry to prove Gosson and his puritan
detractors that Chrian literature doesn't require sterile, idealized
allegories. Instead, lyric verse gains its true spiritual power by reflecting
genuine human struggle and through guiding the fallen soul back to God. Here
Sidney establishes his core theoretical dichotomy, the post fall tension
between humanity's erected wit (intellect’s capacity to perceive divine order)
and infected will (corrupt desires) . In his historicist scholarship, Alan
Sinfield highlights how the reformation concept acts as the main force for
Sidney's entire literary thought. Philosophy addresses the 'erected wit’ but
through cold logic and fails to move the 'infected will’. Poetry through
pleasurable imitation and emotional resonance, captivates the 'infected will’
and redirects it toward the good that the 'erected wit’ already apprehends.
Yet the moment we move The Defense of Poesy to Astrophil
and Stella, literary scholars split radically about how the theoretical
engine operates in practice. CS Lewis views Sidney's sonnet sequence through a
purely formalist lense and argues for a sharp division between his poetry and
prose. For Lewis, Astrophil and Stella is essentially a secular exercise
in petrarchan craftsmanship and erotic frustration, largely unburdened by the
high minded moralism preached in his theoretical prose work. In Lewis' view,
Astrophil's romantic frustration indicates an abandonment of Sidney's
theoretical principles. But by taking Lewis' view, it would be like to split
Sidney into two different men who never talk to each other. On the opposite
extreme of the critical spectrum sits Thomas P. Roche Jr., Who claims the
alignment between the two works. Roche reads Astrophil and Stella as a
warning against courtly love, as Sidney fashions Astrophil as an unmitigated
negative model who eventually through his obsession exposes the foolishness of
idolatrous lust. But if we read the sonnets alongside Andrew Weiner's insight
on protestant poetics, Roche's interpretation feels heavy handed. Because
Sidney doesn't shape Astrophil as a caricature of sin but the major idea is
Sidney's use of psychological realism to show how fallen humans actually think
and feel and by this way Sidney tries to bridge his theoretical manifesto with
creative verse.
The literary mechanics of psychological realism unfold
vividly in sonnet 5. Astrophil
opens the poems by laying out a series of intellectual assertions and
acknowledges that reason (inward light) ought to rule the soul that virtue is
the true beauty and pursuing earthly love is sheer spiritual rebellion.
“It is most true, that eyes are formed to serve
The inward light, and that the heavenly part
Ought to be King, from whose rules who do swerve,
Rebels to nature, strive for their own smart.”
In these opening lines, we can observe Astrophil's erected
wit is operating at full capacity. He knows the truth. But then comes in the
final line, the famous volta: “True and
yet true that I must Stella love”. In a single stroke, his infected will
steamrolls his intellect. The moment directly refutes Lewis’s claim that Sidney
abandoned his moral framework. Sidney is not abandoning theory, he is putting
it into practice by dramatizing the exact conflict Sinfield identified at the
heart of reformation theology. Sidney doesn't deliver a preachy lecture but
shows the tragedy of human knowledge failing to prevent moral collapse. As the
sequence proceeds, Sidney continuously weaves his theoretical refutation of
Plato into Astrophil's downward spiral. In his Defense, Sidney answered Plato
that poetry doesn't breed lust but fallen human beings abuse poetry for base
ends. In the sonnet sequence Sidney shows what the abuse looks like from
inside. In Sonnet 10, Astrophil
confronts reason, demanding either to figure out a way to justify his obsession
for Stella or get out of his way entirely. Rather than letting his 'erected
wit’ to elevate his desires for something divine as Sidney's ideal poetics
would dictate , Astrophil forces his intellect to serve his earthly craving. By
showing this internal struggle, Sidney moves beyond the abstract theoretical
warning of The Defense and gives us a front-row seat to self deception in
action.
This continuous back and forth between theory and poetic
execution becomes even more acute in sonnet
18. Here, Astrophil steps back to take a cold, hard look at his own
spiritual bankruptcy
“With what sharp checks I in myself am shent,
When into reasons audit I do go,
And by just counts myself a bankrupt know of all those goods, which heaven to me hath lent.”
We need to notice how Sidney handles this moment. If Roche's
didactic reading was correct fully, Sidney would have stopped Astrophil right
here, repent and preach a moral lesson to the readers. If Lewis were correct,
this would be just another dramatic pose of courtly despair without any deeper
theological significance. Instead, Sidney lets the structural tension of the
sonnet do the heavy lifting. Astrophil is well aware about his moral ruin- his
'erected wit’ performs a flawless audit of his soul- yet his infected will
keeps his feet glued to the path of destruction. Sidney by channeling
pugliano's lesson on persuasive art through Aristotelian mimesis, he lets us
feel the magnetic pull of Astrophil's passion while forcing us to watch the
devastating bill come due.
This dynamic also answers to Gosson's attack, who argues
love poetry degrades the mind by encouraging effeminacy. Sidney shows by
Astrophil that depicting passion doesn't mean to endorse it. By exposing how
Astrophil's courtly ambitions, public duties and intellectual gifts are
systematically dismantled by his own obsession. Astrophil becomes a living
demonstration of what happens when a courtier allows desire to overthrow
reason.
Conclusion
Sidney's The Defense of Poesy and Astrophil and Stella
cannot be contrasted; instead they work as two sides of the same literary
project and follow a mutually reinforcing and cohesive system of Renaissance
creative practice. By moving beyond CS Lewis's view of secular detachment and
Thomas P. Roche Jr.'s rigid and allegorical reading, this paper shows that
Sidney fulfills his theoretical promise to teach and delight through the
deployment of poetic realism. Framed as a direct response to Stephen Gosson and
grounded in protestant theology, Sir Philip Sidney uses his sonnet sequence to
operationalise the post lapsarian tension between the 'erected wit’ and the
'infected will’. Far from giving a sterile moral lecture and endorsement of
earthly passion, Sidney presents Astrophil as a compelling negative moral
exemplar whose psychological unraveling warns readers of the ruinous costs of
unbridled desire. He channels pugliano's
lesson on persuasive art through Aristotle’s mimesis, Sidney proves that lyric poetry
moves human souls not by showing pristine morally superior characters but
through showing human weakness and its consequences. Sidney elevates secular verse in doing so,
and he proves that realistic depiction of human frailty remains one of literature's
most powerful tools for guiding the fallen soul towards virtue.
Works Cited
Aristotle. Poetics.
Translated by Malcolm Heath, Penguin Books, 1996.
Gosson, Stephen. The School of
Abuse. Edited by Edward Arber, A. Murray & Son, 1868.
Lewis, C.S. English Literature in
the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. Oxford UP, 1954.
Plato. The Republic of Plato.
Translated by Allan Bloom, 2nd ed., Basic Books, 1991.
Roche, Thomas P., Jr. Petrarch
and the English Sonnet Sequences. AMS Press, 1989.
Sidney, Philip. Astrophil and
Stella. Edited by William A. Ringler, Jr., The Poems of Sir Philip
Sidney, Clarendon Press, 1962, pp. 163-237.
---. An Apology for Poetry ( or The Defense of Poesy). Edited
by R. W. Maslen, 3rd ed., Manchester UP, 2002.
Sinfield, Alan. Literature in
Protestant England 1560-1600. Croom Helm, 1983.
Weiner, Andrew D. Sir Philip
Sidney and the Poetics of Protestantism: A Study of Contexts. U of Minnesota P, 1978.