Philip Sidney and

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Revolution by Degrees: Philip Sidney and Gradatio
Author(s): Alex Davis
Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 108, No. 4 (May 2011), pp. 488-506
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/659832 .
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Revolution by Degrees: Philip Sidney and Gradatio
ALEX DAVIS
University of St. Andrews
Lovingintruth,andfaineinversemylovetoshow,
ThatthedeareShemighttakesomepleasureofmypaine:
Pleasuremightcauseherreade,readingmightmakeherknow,
Knowledgemightpitiewinne,andpitiegraceobtaine,
Isoughtfitwordstopainttheblackestfaceofwoe,
Studyinginventionsfine,herwitstoentertaine:
Oftturningothers’leaves,toseeifthencewouldflow
Somefreshandfruitfullshowersuponmysunne-burn’dbraine.
Butwordscamehaltingforth,wantingInvention’sstay,
Invention,Nature’schild,fledstep-dameStudie’sblowes,
Andothers’feetestillseem’dbutstrangersinmyway.
Thusgreatwithchildetospeake,andhelplesseinmythrowes,
Bitingmytrewandpen,beatingmyselfeforspite,
‘‘Foole,’’saidmyMusetome,‘‘lookeinthyheartandwrite.’’1
TheopeningpoemofPhilipSidney’ssonnetsequenceAstrophilandStella
(1591)containssomeofthemostfamousandmemorablelinesofhisoeu-
vre, indeed of sixteenth-century verse generally: much quoted, much
excerpted,andanthologized,respondedtoandalludedtoandevenparo-
diedwellintothenextcentury.2
Muchoftheforceofthepoemseemstoresideinitsprolepticmodeling
of a scenario of readerly success. Astrophil says he hopes that ‘‘Pleasure
mightcause[Stellato]reade,readingmightmakeherknow,/Knowledge
IwouldliketothanktheanonymousModernPhilologyreadersfortheircommentsonan
earlierdraftofthisessay.
1.PhilipSidney,‘‘Lovingintruth’’(AstrophilandStella1),inThePoemsofSirPhilipSidney,
ed.WilliamA.RinglerJr.(Oxford:Clarendon,1962),165.QuotationsofSidney’spoetryare
fromthiseditionandarehereaftergiveninthetextbypagenumber.ForSidney’sprose,I
refertoTheCountessofPembroke’sArcadia(TheOldArcadia),ed.JeanRobertson(Oxford:Clar-
endon,1973),designatedOA;TheCountessofPembroke’sArcadia(TheNewArcadia),ed.Victor
Skretkowicz(Oxford:Clarendon,1987),designatedNA;andAnApologyforPoetry,ed.R.W.
Maslen(ManchesterUniversityPress,2002).Furtherreferencestotheseeditionsaregiven
parenthetically.
2.WilliamRinglerreferstothefinallineofthesonnetas‘‘themostquotedandleast
understoodlineofallSidney’spoetry’’(PoemsofSirPhilipSidney,13).Themostfamousre-
sponsetoAstrophilandStella1isprobablyGeorgeHerbert’s‘‘Jordan(II)’’(1633).
(cid:1)2011byTheUniversityofChicago.Allrightsreserved.0026-8232/2011/10804-0002$10.00
488
AlexDavis Sidneyand Gradatio 489
might pitie winne, and pitie grace obtaine.’’ These lines support dual
points of reference. On the one hand, they gesture toward the fate of
Astrophil’spoetrywithinthenarrativethatthesequenceaimstochart,of
Astrophil’sloveforStella;assuch,thelinesarefundamentallyironic,since
therelationshipis,intheend,afailedone.Ontheotherhand,theycan
be read as referring to the life of the sequence outside the narrative arc
thatitdescribes.Inthissensewearepresentedwithapotentmarriageof
the literary and the amatory in whichan account of the poems’ affective
power and productivityis developed throughtheir construction of Stella
asareader.Astrophil’sfantasyofthepersuasivecapacityofhisversestands
as a potential surrogatefor a far wider range of encounterswith thetext
thanthetextitselfdescribes.
In An Apology for Poetry (1595), Sidney imagines himself into a similar
positionbywayofvoicinghisreservationsaboutcontemporarylyricpoems.
‘‘IfIwereamistress,’’hewrites,‘‘theywouldneverpersuademetheywere
inlove’’(113).SotooinAstrophilandStella,questionsregardingthepoem’s
literarysuccessarefocusedthroughthefigureofthefemalereader.Here,
however, the concomitant of this maneuver is the apparent rejection of
theauthorasreader.Thesolutionstothecompositionalproblemsfacing
Astrophil,the‘‘fitwords’’hesearchesfor,arenot,wearetold,tobefound
withinthepagesofabook.Itseemsobviousthatthedisavowalofauthorial
readingintheopeningpoemofAstrophilandStellais,onsomelevelatleast,
thoroughly—wittily—disingenuous.3Forallitsbrillianceofinvention,Sid-
ney’ssonnetsequenceisnothingifnottheproductoftheintensivestudy
of‘‘others’leaves.’’Themetrical‘‘feete’’ofothersareanythingbut‘‘strang-
ers’’tothiswriter.4Onthecontrary:Sidney’srefashioningofEnglishverse
earnedhimthereputationofbeing the‘‘EnglishPetrarch.’’5That is, the
significanceofthepoeticrevolutionheinitiatedwasalwayspositionedin
relation toanterior,exotic models of composition, which Sidney was un-
derstood to have domesticated (at whatever estranging cost to his own
identity—notably, it is Astrophil himself who may figure in this poem as
theblack,‘‘sunne-burn’d’’racialoutsider).
3.See,e.g.,GermaineWarkentin’s‘‘SidneyandtheSuppleMuse:CompositionalProce-
duresinSomeSonnetsofAstrophilandStella,’’inSirPhilipSidney:AnAnthologyofModernCriti-
cism,ed.DennisKay(Oxford:Clarendon,1987),171–84,whichpointsoutthatthepoemisa
variationonacommonplacetheme,alsotobefoundin(forexample)thetwentiethsonnetof
Petrarch’sCanzoniere(1374).
4.Foradazzlingreadingof‘‘feete’’inrelationtothepoem’smetrics,seeCatherineBates,
Masculinity, GenderandIdentityintheEnglishRenaissanceLyric(CambridgeUniversityPress,
2007),56–60.
5.OnSidneyas‘‘OurEnglishPetrarke,’’seetheentryonSirJohnHaringtoninSidney:The
CriticalHeritage,ed.MartinGarrett(London:Routledge,1996),117.Onthevalidityofthis
description,seeRogerKuin,ChamberMusic:ElizabethanSonnet-SequencesandthePleasureofCriti-
cism(UniversityofTorontoPress,1998),161–62.
490 MODERN PHILOLOGY
Modernaccountsofthepoemtendtorevolvearounditsclosingline,in
whichAstrophil’smusefamouslytellshim,‘‘Lookeinthyheartandwrite.’’
ImeantoexplorethequestionofAstrophilandStella1’stheorizationofthe
originsoftheworkofartfromaslightlydifferentperspective,oneprovided
by the poem’s account of the work it hopes to perform. This is the wish
expressedinSidney’sopeningquatrainandquotedabove,that‘‘Pleasure
mightcauseherreade,readingmightmakeherknow,/Knowledgemight
pitiewinne,andpitiegraceobtaine.’’Intheselines,withtheirdistinctive
chainlikegrammaticalconstruction,Sidneyisnotonlymakinguseofone
ofhisfavoriteliterarymannerisms;heisalsodeployingafigureembedded
inacomplextraditionofuseandreceptionthatmakesitaparticularlyapt
rhetorical device with which to engage—or avoid—questions of literary
authorityandinnovation.InwhatfollowsIwanttodevelopthemethodof
closeattentiontoparticularrhetoricalfiguresaspracticedinRenaissance
rhetoricalhandbooksandextendedbymodernstudiessuchasthevolume
RenaissanceFiguresofSpeech.6MyaimistodiscussSidney’susesofgradatio,
and the history that frames that device, in order to argue that Sidney’s
poem shows itsdeepest and most inwardunderstanding of this tradition
whenitconvertsitintothevehicleforitsowndisplacement,directingour
attentionawayfromthequestionofothers’contributionstoSidney’sown
inventivenessandtowardadesiredprocessofreaderlyseduction.
ThesecondandthirdlinesofAstrophilandStella1presentacharacteris-
tically Sidnean combination of two rhetorical figures: anadiplosis on the
onehand,andclimaxorgradatioontheother.Anadiplosisistherepetition
ofthelastwordorphraseofalineorclauseorsentenceatthebeginningof
thenext.Takenalone,thefiguremayberelativelyunobtrusive,particularly
intextsasornateassomeofSidney’sare.WhenintheNewArcadia(1593)
Pyroclesexclaims,‘‘WhylivedI,alas?AlaswhylovedI?’’(NA,432),wemay,
incontext,scarcelynoticetherepetition.Butanadiplosiswasimportantto
Sidney.IntheApologyforPoetry,hepraisesCicero’suseofit:‘‘Tullywhenhe
wastodriveoutCatiline,asitwerewithathunderboltofeloquence,often
usedthatfigureofrepetition,Vivit.Vivit?Imoveroetiaminsenatumvenit,&c.
Indeed,inflamedwithawell-groundedrage,hewouldhavehiswords(as
itwere)doubleoutofhismouth,andsodothatartificiallywhichwesee
men do in choler naturally’’ (114). However, Sidney’s most idiosyncratic
6.SylviaAdamson,GavinAlexander,andKatrinEttenhuber,eds.,RenaissanceFiguresof
Speech(CambridgeUniversityPress,2007).Gradatioisdiscussedonpages9–10.SeealsoGavin
Alexander’sWritingafterSidney:TheLiteraryResponsetoSirPhilipSidney,1586–1640(Oxford
UniversityPress,2006)forfurtherexamplesofthismethod.Sidney’suseofthefigureofgrada-
tiohaspreviouslybeendiscussedbyB.J.Sokol(‘‘FiguresofRepetitioninSidney’sAstrophiland
StellaandintheScenicFormofMeasureForMeasure,’’Rhetorica9[1991]:131–46).Ihavedrawn
onSokol’sdiscussioninwhatfollows,althoughouressaysaredirectedtoratherdifferentends.
Forageneraldiscussion,seeLaneCooper,‘‘TheClimax,’’SewaneeReview32(1924):32–43.
AlexDavis Sidneyand Gradatio 491
andforcefulusesofthetropecomeincombinationwiththatofgradatio:
the arrangement of words or phrases in order of increasing importance,
whetherfromleasttogreatestorinorderoftime.
Inprinciple,thetwofiguresareentirelyindependent—obviouslysoin
thecaseofanadiplosis,butalsowithgradatio(asforinstancein‘‘veni,vidi,
vici’’). However, early modern rhetoric manuals often couple the two to-
getherordefinethesecondinsuchawaythatitinvolvesthefirst.Thomas
Wilson’sinstancesof‘‘Gradacion’’allinfactinvolvetheknittingofclauses
characteristicofanadiplosis.Hisfirstreads:‘‘Labourgettethlearnyng,learn-
ynggettethfame,famegettethhonour,honourgettethblesseforeuer.’’7
The same is true of George Puttenham’s discussion of ‘‘Clymaxe, or the
MarchingFigure.’’Puttenhamquotesfrom‘‘oneofourEpitaphesshewing
how a very meane man by his wisdome and good fortune came to great
estateanddignitie’’:‘‘Hisvertuemademadehimwise,hiswisdomebrought
himwealth,/Hiswealthwanmanyfriends.’’8AbrahamFraunce’sArcadian
Rhetorike (1588), meanwhile, discusses the figures one directly after the
other,openingwiththeobservationthat‘‘thatwhichisindiuerssentences
iseitherAnadiplosis,orclimax.’’‘‘Anadiplosis,redoubling,orreduplicationis
whenthesamesoundisrepeatedattheendeofthesentencegoingebefore,
andinthebeginningofthesentencefollowingafter.’’‘‘Climax,gradation,is
areduplicationbydiuersdegreesandsteps,asitwere,ofthesamewordor
sound.’’9 Both are forms of ‘‘reduplication,’’ distinguished by the greater
senseofprogressioninusesofclimax,whichisdefinedasmuchthroughits
useofverbalrepetitionasbyitsdelineationofsequence.Itfeatures,thatis,
almostasasubcategoryofanadiplosis.Linkedtogether,thesetwofigures
pinpointthedistinctiveconcatenatinggrammaticalconstructionwefindin
the opening sonnet of Astrophil and Stella, describing a process that leads
frompleasuretoreading,fromreadingtoknowledge,fromknowledgeto
pity,andfrompitytograce.Wemightnotethatitseemsappropriatethata
figurethatpresentsawayoffoldingclausesandsentencesintooneanother
should operate most efficiently when it is itself combined with another
trope.10AndwemightalsonotethewayinwhichbothWilsonandPutten-
hamusetheiraccountofthefiguresasanopportunitytoembedintheir
7.ThomasWilson,TheArteofRhetorique(London,1553),Ee1r.
8.GeorgePuttenham,TheArteofEnglishPoesie(London,1589),Aa1r.
9.AbrahamFraunce,TheArcadianRhetorike(London,1588),C6v–C8v.
10.JohnHoskinspursuesthisself-referentialityevenmoreexplicitly.Hediscussesthetwo
figuresofrepetitioninasequenceandaddsathirdtermtothem:sorites,bywhichhemeansa
linkedandescalatingsequenceoflogicalreasoning.Fromanadiplosistoclimax,andfromcli-
maxtosorites,eachcontainingthelastwhileatthesametimesupersedingit:thisisitselfan
escalatingseriesofthesortSidneymighthaveenjoyeddescribing.SeeJohnHoskins,Directions
forSpeechandStyle,ed.HoytH.Hudson(PrincetonUniversityPress,1935),12–13.Hoskins’s
examplesareallfromtheArcadia.
492 MODERN PHILOLOGY
textsminiaturenarrativesaboutthegenesisofprosperityandthevalueof
learning. Fraunce doessomething similar, and wewill return toThe Arca-
dianRhetorikelaterinthisdiscussionwhenweexploresomeofthepotential
counternarratives implicit in this tradition. For the moment, though, we
cansimplyobservethatgradatiowasoneofSidney’sfavoriteandmostchar-
acteristicrhetoricalfigures.11
TheNewArcadiaopenswiththetwodistraughtshepherdsStrephonand
ClaiusdiscussingtheirlovefortheabsentUrania.‘‘Letus,’’Claiusexhorts
Strephon, ‘‘think with consideration, and consider with acknowledging,
andacknowledgewithadmiration,andadmirewithlove,andlovewithjoy
inthemidstofallwoes’’(NA,4).Sidney’suseofthefiguredescribesthe
processwherebyClaiusisdrawnfromheartbreaktoabittersweet,evenjoy-
ful,andcertainlymorethoughtfulpsychologicalstate.Oncehebeginsto
think,henecessarilyconsiders;havingconsidered,hemustthenacknowl-
edge the fruits of his reflection to be the case, whereupon he can only
admirethatthisisso—andsoloveinfuseshismiserywithasenseofwonder
thatisalsorational.FurtherexamplesaboundinSidney’stext,appliedto
thewidestpossiblerangeofcircumstances.Basilius’scounselorPhilanaxis
aparticulardevotee.Intheconcludingtrialscene,heattacksPyrocles:‘‘This
man...from a man grew a woman, from a woman a ravisher of women,
thenceaprisoner’’(OA,387).ThenheattemptstoimplicatePyroclesand
MusidorusinhisprosecutionofGynecia:‘‘Hadshe...nopracticetolead
her unto it? Or had she a practice without conspiracy? Or could she con-
spirewithoutsomebodytoconspirewith?’’(OA,389).
In his Rhetoric of Motives, Kenneth Burke comments on the sense of
inevitability that gradatio often produces, and this is one of the principal
effectsofSidney’suseofthetrope.12IntheNewArcadia,Planguslayseyes
onhisprisonerEronaforthefirsttime:‘‘Seeing,tolike;andliking,tolove;
11.SinceforFraunce,asforhisfellowrhetoricians,usinggradatioorclimaxusuallyinvolves
anadiplosisaswell,Iwillhenceforthconfinemyselftojustusingthelastterm.Ihavefavoredgra-
datiooverclimax,slightlyagainstthepreferenceofsixteenth-centurywriters,becauseitisthe
nameforthisfigureofdevelopmentandprogressionthatbestgesturestowarditsownfuture
historyinartisticpractice.Graduswastobecomethestandardtermforaninstructionmanual
inthearts:aGradusadParnassumwasaLatinorGreekdictionarywithquantitiesmarkedasan
aidtoversecomposition,andthetermwasalsousedinmusicalinstruction.
12.‘‘Irecall,’’Burkewrites,‘‘agradatioofpoliticalimport,muchinthenewsduringthe
‘Berlincrisis’of1948’’:‘‘‘WhocontrolsBerlin,controlsGermany;whocontrolsGermanycon-
trolsEurope;whocontrolsEuropecontrolstheworld.’Asaproposition,itmayormaynotbe
true.Andevenifitistrue,unlesspeoplearethoroughlyimperialistic,theymaynotwantto
controltheworld.Butregardlessofthesedoubtsaboutitasaproposition,bythetimeyou
arriveatthesecondofitsthreestages,youfeelhowitisdestinedtodevelop—andonthelevel
ofpurelyformalassentyouwouldcollaboratetoroundoutitssymmetrybyspontaneouslywill-
ingitscompletionandperfectionasanutterance’’(KennethBurke,ARhetoricofMotives[New
York:Prentice-Hall,1950],58–59).
AlexDavis Sidneyand Gradatio 493
and loving, straight to feel themost incident effects of love: toserveand
preserve’’(NA,301).Andthatisthat:thejailerbecomesthewould-beres-
cuer.TheunfortunateDidoexplainshowPamphiliushasmistreatedher,
notjustbreakingofftheirrelationshipbutalsopubliclydeclaringthathe
foundherunattractive.‘‘Wasitwasnotenoughforhim,’’sheasks,‘‘tohave
deceivedme,andthroughthedeceitabusedme,andaftertheabusefor-
saken me, but that he must now, of all the company, and before all the
company,laywantofbeautytomycharge?’’(NA,240).Didoanswersher
ownquestion;infact,heruseoftherhetoricalfiguresmustersasenseof
inevitabilitysufficienttomakethequestionappearrhetorical.Theabuse
materialized through the deceit, and the forsaking seems to follow with
similarconsequence.SodidPamphiliusreallyhavetoinflictthatfinaltwist
of the knife? In a sense, yes. At any rate, the insult emerges perfectly
smoothlyfromhispreviousderelictionsofduty;eachcontainsthenext,as
withthesectionsofafoldingtelescope.Sidney’suseofthesefiguresdelin-
eatesasequenceofcauseandeffect:knowledgeleadstopityleadstograce;
ifweconsiderwemustacknowledge,andthenwemustadmire;todeceive
istoabuseiseventuallytoforsake.Gradatio isthefigurethatdealswiththe
‘‘causeful’’ nature of things. (The word comes from a sestina offered in
mourningofthe[apparently]deadBasilius,whichopens,‘‘Sincewailingis
abudofcausefulsorrow,/Sincesorrowisthefollowerofillfortune’’[OA,
284].)Itdealswithprocesses,anditdealswiththeminadoubleway.On
the one hand, it divides them into a series of perceptibly separate steps,
arrangedintodistinctclauses.Ontheother,itarticulatestheconnection
between them so powerfully that one sometimes has the sense that they
existsimultaneously,becauseeachiscontinuallyimplicitbothinitsprede-
cessorsandinitssuccessors.Theendoftheprocessalreadyexistsinpoten-
tia,containedinitsbeginning;or,conversely,thebeginningistobeunder-
stoodasthemereprospectiveechoofitsachievedend.
AsPatriciaParkernotes,gradatioisalsoafigurerichinpoliticalpoten-
tial.HeresheismakingparticularreferencetoapassagefromtheNewArca-
dia about the nature of government, singled out by John Hoskins in his
DirectionsforSpeechandStyle(ca.1599)asaninstanceofthesuccessfuluseof
climaxand anadiplosisthat alsooffersthepotential fora sorites,a logical
argument,aboutthefoundationsofanorderlystate.ThepassageHoskins
quotes reads: ‘‘Therecould be no government without a magistrate, and
nomagistratewithoutobedience,andnoobediencewhereeveryoneupon
hisownprivatepassion,mayinterpretthedoingsoftherulers’’(NA,286).
Parker comments: ‘‘Gradatio or concatenatio—the ‘stepping’ figure whose
namesalreadylinkitbothtoa‘ladder’andtoa‘chain’—istherhetorical
trope of ‘climbing’ illustrated by a political progression of ‘degrees.’
...Passageslikethislast,inwhichrhetoricalgradationalsobecomes,with
the simple addition of an ‘ergo,’ a form of logical progression, demon-
494 MODERN PHILOLOGY
stratehoweasilyafigureadaptedtorhetoricalsequenceandmarshalling
could become partof a series of thingswhich ‘follow’ from one another
in a ‘chain,’ including the ‘chain’ of government, or of being.’’13 Parker
viewsthefigureaspotentiallycognatewithsixteenth-centuryjustifications
for political authority, hierarchy, and degree of the sort that interested
E.M.W.Tillyard,andtheconnectionseemslogicalenough.Yetitwould
be overly schematic to suggest that the figure must always develop in the
directionofoutliningsomesortofgreatchain,particularlyinthehandsof
awriteraspoliticallysophisticatedasSidney.14Considerthesecondsonnet
ofAstrophilandStella,whichconstitutesasubmergedlinguistic-etymological
punonthewordsclimax(Greek‘‘ladder’’)andgradatio(Latin‘‘themaking
ofaseriesofsteps’’).15
Notatfirstsight,norwithadribbedshot,
Lovegavethewound,whichwhileIbreathewillbleed:
Butknowneworthdidinmineoftimeproceed,
Tillbydegreesithadfullconquestgot.
Isawandliked,Ilikedbutlovednot,
Iloved,butstraightdidnotwhatLovedecreed:
AtlengthtoLove’sdecrees,Iforc’d,agreed,
Yetwithrepiningatsopartialllot.
Noweventhatfootstepoflostlibertie
Isgone,andnowlikeslave-borneMuscovite,
IcallitpraisetosufferTyrannie;
Andnowemploytheremnantofmywit,
Tomakemyselfebelieve,thatalliswell,
WhilewithafeelingskillIpaintmyhell.
(165–66)
Astrophillooksbackatthe‘‘footstep[s]’’bywhichhewasledintobond-
age and the ‘‘degrees’’ (from gradus) by which he was subjected to love’s
‘‘decrees.’’Whatwehavehere,then,isthesuperimpositionofdifferentlan-
13.PatriciaParker,LiteraryFatLadies:Rhetoric,Gender,Property(London:Methuen,1987),
99.Hoskins’sexamplealsofeaturesinDavidNorbrook’s‘‘Rhetoric,IdeologyandtheElizabe-
thanWorldPicture,’’inRenaissanceRhetoric,ed.PeterMack(Houndmills:St.Martin’s,1994),
157.
14.EvenUlysses’classicspeechondegreeinTroilusandCressidaactuallydeploysgradatio
todescribetheeffectsof‘‘discord,’’nottheascenttoorder:‘‘Theneverythingincludesitself
inpower,/Powerintowill,willintoappetite,/Andappetite,anuniversalwolf...Mustmake
perforceanuniversalprey’’(WilliamShakespeare,TroilusandCressida,ed.KennethPalmer
[London:Methuen,1982],1.3.119–23).
15.CompareAsYouLikeIt:‘‘Foryourbrotherandmysisternosoonermet,butthey
looked;nosoonerlooked,buttheyloved;nosoonerloved,buttheysighed;nosoonersighed,
buttheyaskedoneanotherthereason;nosoonerknewthereason,buttheysoughttherem-
edy.Andinthesedegreestheyhavemadeapairofstairstomarriage’’(WilliamShakespeare,
AsYouLikeIt,ed.AgnesLatham[London:Methuen,1975],5.2.31–37).
AlexDavis Sidneyand Gradatio 495
guagesandframesofreference:romantic,courtly,andpolitical.To‘‘callit
praise to suffer Tyrannie’’ is at once the fate of the adoring lover, of the
aspiringcourtier,andofthepoliticalsubjectdeprivedofliberty.Astrophil
hasbeenincrementallyreducedtothestateofthe‘‘Muscovite’’wholoves
hisownsubjectionbutwhowasborntoit,asAstrophilwasnot.Wegetarue-
fulandsemiresignedinvestigationofthepsychologyoflivingunder‘‘Tyran-
nie’’andthedualconsciousnessitimposes:asortofsixteenth-centuryDou-
blethink. Astrophil devotes half of what remains of his wit to making his
servitude comfortable for himself (‘‘to make my selfe believe, that all is
well’’),andhalfofittoopeningoutthespaceofself-knowledgewithinwhich
hecanrecognizethatwhatheissufferingisindeedasortofhell.Thepoem
thereforebearstheconceptualimpressofaneo-Romanpoliticaldiscourse
that organizes itself around a fundamental structural opposition between
freedomandservitude.16Yetitdoesnotdevelopthisinterestinatheoretical
fashion,decisivelyfororagainstanyoneterminthesixteenth-centurypolit-
icalthinker’sgrammarofavailablegovernmentaloptions, bethatmonar-
chy,republic,mixedconstitution,oranyotherkindofstate.17Instead,the
sonnetfocusesitsattentionelsewhere,onthetransitionsbetweenthefixed
pointsoflibertyandslavery.Fromseeingtoliking,andfromlikingtoloving,
thepoemchartstheprocessbywhichAstrophilcametocelebrate‘‘Tyran-
nie.’’Theoutcomeisalossoffreedom,butwasthechainofcauseandeffect
thatproducedthatresultitselfcoercive?Wegetapeculiarsenseofmingled
contingencyanddeterminism.Thedistancebetweenthestages—between
seeingandliking,forexample—seemsindividuallysosmallthatwemight
feel that at any point Astrophil might have ‘‘stepped’’ in a quite different
direction; into distaste or indifference, for instance. And yet at the same
timetheendresultseemssomehowinevitable,or‘‘forc’d.’’Wearegiven,at
anyrate,alessonintheincrementalnatureofthepoliticalprocess:theruin
ofAstrophil’slibertyisarevolutionaccomplishedbydegrees.18
16.SeeQuentinSkinner,LibertybeforeLiberalism(CambridgeUniversityPress,1998).Since
acertainamountofsixteenth-centurypoliticalthoughtexistedinarelativelyinchoateform,
inheringasmuchinsystemsofcontinuallycirculatedtopoiandvocabulariesasitdidincare-
fullyarticulatedtheoriesofgovernment,Sidney’sdeploymentofthelanguageoftyrannyis
thereforenotquiteastrivialornonspecificasitmightseem.
17.See,e.g.,thediscussionofformsofgovernmentintheopeningbookofSirThomas
Smith’sDerepublicaAnglorum,ed.MaryDewar(CambridgeUniversityPress,1982).
18.CompareFulkeGreville’saccountofSidney’sintentionsinwritingtheArcadia.These
were,‘‘ontheMonarch’spart,livelytorepresentthegrowth,stateanddeclinationofPrinces,
changeofGovernment,andlawes;vicissitudesofsedition,faction,succession,confederacies,
plantations,withallothererrors,oralterationsinpubliqueaffairs’’(FulkeGreville,TheLifeof
theRenownedS[i]rPhilipSidney[London,1652],C1v).Again,theemphasisisonchangeand
instability.TheArcadiaseemstopointlesstowardacatalogoffixedtypesofpolitythantoan
analysisoftheprocessesofself-estrangementbywhichonetypeofconstitutionrisksbecoming
somethingotherthanitself.
496 MODERN PHILOLOGY
LookingatSidney’suseofgradatioservestofocusourattentiononadis-
tinctivefacetofhisimagination.Theultimatemodelforhismoreupwardly
mobileusesofthetropemaybePlato’sSymposium,withitsdescriptionof
thelover,‘‘everclimbingaloft,asontherungsofaladder,fromonetotwo,
andfromtwotoallbeautifulbodies;frompersonalbeautyheproceedsto
beautiful observances, from observance to beautiful learning, and from
learningatlasttothatparticularstudywhichisconcernedwiththebeauti-
fuland that alone.’’19Atthesametime,though,thedestinationof these
movementsismoreoftenthannota‘‘hell’’ofabjectionanddespair.Butit
isthegeneralinterestinprocessandmutabilitythatisassignificantasany-
thingelse.AttentiontoSidney’sinterestingradatiopresentsanimportant
correctivetoJohnCarey’saccountofhowtheArcadia’srhetoric—particu-
larly its use of figures like antimetabole—plays into the representation of
individuals torn between irreconcilable extremes.20 Carey convincingly
showshowSidney’simaginationisdrawntowardrepresentationsofpsycho-
logicalandsituationaldeadlock.Buthisbroaderimplicationisthatthetext
isthereforesomehowbothagitatedandyetfundamentallystatic.Thechar-
acteristics Carey describes certainly exist. Gradatio, however, points in a
ratherdifferentdirection,towardSidney’sinterestinaworldoftemporal-
ityandincessantchange.Indeed,thereisasenseinwhichSidney’sentire
literary practice is grounded in theinterest in dynamism, in processes of
modification,towhichgradatio seemssowelladapted.
Aswehaveseen,someofthemoststrikingofSidney’susesofthisfigure
are those applied to mental and emotional states. The effect gets to the
heartofSidneanpsychologyasexpressedintheApologyforPoetry,thepo-
eticsofwhichareunderpinnedbythebeliefthatindividualscanbepointed
inonedirectionoranotherviaaseriesofintermediateemotionalstates.If
theApologyhasacrucialverb,itmaybe‘‘todraw’’:wearetoldthatthe‘‘final
end’’ofpoetryis‘‘toleadanddrawustoashighaperfection,asourdegen-
eratesouls...canbecapableof’’(88);poetry‘‘dothdrawthemindmore
effectualy than any other art doth’’ (96); the likes of Orpheus had the
power‘‘todrawwiththeircharmingsweetnessthewilduntamedwitstoan
admiration of knowledge’’ (82); the enemies of poetry allege that it acts
‘‘with a siren’s sweetness drawing the mind to the serpent’s tale of sinful
fancy’’(102);andsoon.JustasUraniadrawsStrephonandClaiustoward
highercontemplation,sopoetrycandrawerringhumanstotheexerciseof
moral virtue—not directly, but through its vivid representations of those
19.Plato,Symposium211c,inLysis;Symposium;Gorgias,trans.W.R.M.Lamb(Cambridge,
MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1991).
20.JohnCarey,‘‘StructureandRhetoricinSidney’sArcadia,’’inKay,SirPhilipSidney,245–
64.