The Speaker

The speaker of the poem is Astrophil, a name created from two Greek words, "aster" meaning "star," and "phil" meaning "lover." The Latin word for star, "Stella," explains the name of the speaker, who is so taken with Stella that he writes a 108-sonnet sequence in an attempt to woo her. However, this first sonnet is less about the speaker's love for Stella and more about the intimidating nature of the writing process: inspired by his love, the speaker desires to write poetry in order to impress Stella and obtain her affection. He becomes quickly overwhelmed, however, by the pressure of participating in the literary tradition of other poets. It is not until his Muse reminds him, at the end of the poem, that emotion and feeling are good enough sources of inspiration, that he is actually able to begin the major undertaking of the sequence itself...