Sir Philip Sidney
(1554–1586)

Sir Philip Sidney wrote the first great sonnet sequence in English, Astrophel and Stella. Before Sidney, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surray had written excellent sonnets, but Sidney was the first to write a series of sonnets linked by subject matter and theme. In addition, his Defence of Poesy marks the beginning of English literary criticism.

Sidney was born at Penshurst, the country home of his aristocratic family. After studying at Oxford and Cambridge he traveled extensively in Europe. Back in England he became a favorite in court, where his charm, intelligence, and good judgment were recognized and admired. In 1575, he made the acquaintance of Penelope Devereux, the daughter of Lord Essex. She was the 13. They became engaged, but the engagement was later broken off and Penelope became the wife of Lord Rich. She is the Stella of Astrophel and Stella.

In 1580, he fell out favor with the court by writing a letter to Queen Elizabeth urging her not to marry the Duke of Anjou. He then retired to his sister's home, where he wrote part of Arcadia, a pastoral romance. Eventually he regained his status with the queen and was knighted in 1583. In 1586, during the military engagement against the Spanish Catholics in Holland, Sidney was wounded. As he lay on the ground, he refused the water offered him, insisting that it be given to another wounded soldier. 26 days later Sidney died, to the great grief of his country.

During his life Sir Philip Sidney was widely revered as a courtier, soldier, scholar, and poet–a model gentleman of the English Renaissance. Today he is acknowledged as the first important literary critic in English. He is also recognized as the poet who inspired the sonnet sequences of later Renaissance poets and as the author of a number of eloquent sonnets that stand with the best poetry of this period.

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