The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Sidney, Philip. "Sonnet 1: Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show." Astrophil and Stella. Sir Philip Sidney: The Major Works (Oxford, 2009).

Note that all parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

Sir Philip Sidney was a Renaissance soldier, courtier, and poet under the reign of Elizabeth I. Sidney came from one of the prominent families that were heavily involved in the goings-on at court at the time, and he was highly respected by his peers. He was classically educated at Oxford University before becoming involved in foreign diplomacy for Queen Elizabeth I. Sidney famously expressed his disapproval of the proposed marriage between Elizabeth I and the Duke of Anjou in a letter sent directly to the queen herself. Sidney promptly retired from the court after the letter was written, likely saving himself from a harsh punishment under Elizabeth's reign. He was knighted in 1583 and died in 1585 after being shot in the leg at the Battle of Zutpen and contracting gangrene.

Sidney's most famous works are his sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella, his lengthy prose romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, which he dedicated to his sister, Mary Sidney, and The Defence of Poesy, an essay that details the importance of poetic study. Astrophil and Stella is composed of 108 sonnets, of which "Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show" is the first. There is no proper title for the poem, as the sonnets are simply numbered 1-108, but scholars have taken to referring to the poems by their opening lines. In this particular poem, the speaker, Astrophil, introduces the reader to his love for Stella while describing the challenge that accompanies the writing process.