author
Philip Sidney
1554–1586
A brilliant figure of the Elizabethan age, this poet-courtier wrote with elegance and intensity while also living a life of diplomacy, politics, and war. He is best remembered for works that helped shape English Renaissance literature and for the romantic legend that grew around his early death.
3 Audiobooks
A Defence of Poesie and Poems
by Philip Sidney
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
by Philip Sidney
About the author
Born at Penshurst in Kent on November 30, 1554, Sir Philip Sidney was raised in a powerful and well-connected family and educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford. He became known at the court of Elizabeth I as a courtier, diplomat, scholar, and patron of writers, embodying the Renaissance ideal of a man active in both letters and public life.
Sidney's literary reputation rests especially on three major works: Astrophil and Stella, one of the most influential sonnet sequences in English; The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, a richly imaginative prose romance; and The Defence of Poesy, a spirited argument for the value of poetry. His writing combined learning, emotional force, and formal grace, and it had a lasting impact on later English literature.
His life ended young but memorably. In 1586, while serving in the Netherlands, he was wounded at the Battle of Zutphen and died on October 17 at the age of 31. His death was widely mourned, and his fame endured not only because of his poems and prose, but also because generations saw in him an image of the ideal poet, gentleman, and soldier.