A Canto a Day 4 Sidney

Astrophel and Stella 45

Stella oft sees the very face of woe
Painted in my beclouded stormy face,
But cannot skill to pity my disgrace,
Not though thereof the herself she know.
Yet hearing late a fable, which did show
Of lovers never known, a grievous case,
Pity thereof gate in her breast such place,
That from that sea deriv'd tears' spring did flow.
Alas, if Fancy, drawn by imag'd things
Though false, yet with free scope, more grace doth breed
Than servant's wrack, where new doubts honour brings,
Then think, my dear, that you in me do read
Of lover's ruin some sad tragedy:
I am not I: pity the tale of me.  

One thing that seems to come up a lot in sonnets is a comparison between love lived and love in literature. In this sonnet, Stella is able to respond to the sufferings of (at a guess) Paolo and Francesca in Dante's Inferno, but can't be moved by the suffering evident in Astrophel's face. It's an accusation, of course, and that "my dear" in line 12 sounds as patronising as it would today. The shortness of the last two lines suggests a sulk. 

I don't have any evidence to support the Paolo and Francesca link but it's very tempting. It's a double reference because they were also affected by reading literature: in their case the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. But in their case, the story acted as an aphrodisiac. Maybe Astrophel is peeved and frustrated that whereas Francesca was softened in the physical world of their relationship, Stella's reaction is spiritual, not bodily. He's spared the second circle of hell but that's not on his mind just now.

We'll come back to this, I'm sure: the notion that the real flesh and blood lover doesn't - can't - match the fictional lover in the sonnet itself or in some external work, and this may be a cause for sadness or anger.