You don't have to read Romeo and Juliet to get your fill of "star-crossed" lovers this Valentine's Day season.

Astrophil and Stella, by Sir Philip Sidney, is a sonnet sequence that is a commentary on love, and the very nature of poetry. As James Topham says, "In addition to poking a great deal of fun at the notion of true love and the way that a knight should go about loving, the poems are also--on occasion--tender and understanding. The sonnet sequence creates the myth of a great lover, whilst quite firmly puncturing that myth."

Here's a review of Astrophil and Stella, by James Topham.

Cover Art © Oxford University Press.