A Star Lover and His Star

I knew Stella meant ‘star’ and I knew that astro is associated with stars, so I was not necessarily surprised to learn that Astrophil was Latin for ‘star lover’. However, it does put into question if Stella is a woman or is she a literal star? I find the symbolism behind their names to be interesting. Astrophil loves Stella and views her as this bright, beautiful thing, but it seems like his love is unrequited and is left to pine after her, making her also this foreign and far away object to him. 

However, it seems that Astrophil only sees Stella as an object. He repeatedly compares her beauty to a star and seems to only admire that about her. He even writes,

“That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,— 

Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know, 

Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—“

He speaks of pity, so from this quote in the first poem, it sounds almost like he wants to guilt trip her into loving him. He makes it sound as if knows she is not interested in him but by his words.