Astrophel and Stella is a sequence of 108 sonnets and 11 songs by Sir Philip Sidney, written in the early 1580s and published in 1591. It tells the hopeless love of Astrophel, 'star-lover', for Stella, 'star', and launched the fashion for sonnet sequences in Elizabethan England.
The story
Astrophel loves Stella, who is married to another man. He argues with himself between desire and reason, courts her, wins a kiss as she sleeps, receives her admission that she loves him, but is refused, and finally parts from her in sorrow.
Stella is generally identified with Penelope Devereux, who had once been intended to marry Sidney and in 1581 married Lord Rich; several sonnets play on the word 'rich'.
A new English sonnet
Inspired by Petrarch, Sidney adapted the Italian sonnet to English with great variety of tone, from wit and irony to passion and despair. The first sonnet famously ends with the Muse telling the poet to look in his heart and write.
The sequence also includes eleven songs in various metres, placed between the sonnets, some of them in dialogue.
Publication
Like all of Sidney's works, the sequence was not printed in his lifetime. A first, unauthorised edition appeared in 1591, with a preface by Thomas Nashe; a better text was included in the 1598 edition of Sidney's works prepared by his sister.
Its success prompted a wave of sonnet sequences in the 1590s, by Spenser, Drayton, Daniel and Shakespeare.
Anecdotes
Astrophel or Astrophil
The title of the 1591 edition is Astrophel and Stella, but modern scholars often prefer 'Astrophil', from the Greek for 'star-lover', which is closer to Sidney's own name, Philip.
Elegies for Astrophel
After Sidney's death, Spenser and other poets published a collection of elegies for him under the title Astrophel (1595).
Frequently asked questions
How many sonnets are in Astrophel and Stella?
108 sonnets and 11 songs.
Who is Stella?
Probably Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich.
When was it published?
In 1591, five years after Sidney's death.