The Image of Moon in Sir Philips Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “To the Moon”: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The aim of this research is to shed light on the poetic imagery which has been the concern of many poets; the image of the moon, this time from the viewpoints of two poets who are completely different in era and culture, but similar in their attitudes towards love and their sufferings from the consequences of love. First, the paper is an overview of the eras that the two poets lived in and life in the 16th century in general, then their education, economy, social distance, culture, work and political level have been highlighted. It also demonstrates an account of poetry in the era. Then how the poets chose their styles of writing has been shown. It focuses on the tools that they used to write their poems. In the next section it indicates the 19th century and talks about life which was expanded in every field; in this case people attempted new discoveries, printing, textile industries, and business in trade. Besides this, the poet shows how they describe their emotions in contrast to neoclassical about their writing style. Consequently, characteristics of poetry in the end of this chapter is an indication of comparative literature. First its definitions, in general, were given, then the three schools of comparative literature: French, German and American were discussed.
The study then, starts with literature review to know the amount of literature exists on these poems. The next section portrays the moon by Philip Sidney so in what way express their love to a girl by writing a poem,“Astrophil and Stella “31 using moon to show his pain when he loved a girl and hoped to be as a wife, but she rejected. In the next section show how Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote the poem, “To the Moon’’. He calls the moon “the queen of night” and “the guiding star” that excites both poets and lovers. Shelley asks the reader to consider the moon’s magnificent and otherworldly characteristics through his use of vivid and striking imagery. The study then discusses the similarities and differences about the two poems and concludes with its conclusion.