SOURCE: “Astrophel: Full of Desire, Emptie of Wit,” in English Language Notes, Vol. 14, No. 4, June 1977, pp. 251–56.

In the following essay, Regan maintains that Astrophel sometimes assumes the role of the conventional “foolish poet” of earlier love lyrics in order to convince readers he is a true lover.

Scholars have long attributed the dramatic vigor of Astrophel and Stella to Astrophel's variety of roles. However, no one has yet distinguished the “foolish poet” as one of these roles, nor has anyone noted that this role is a convention available to Sidney from earlier love lyrics, where many a poet-lover before Astrophel plays the “foolish poet” to persuade readers that he is a true lover. For often in Renaissance love lyrics the protean poet-lover will include among his many changes a pretense that he has lost control of his words, his language, his tongue—the “poet” part of himself. And...