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2. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Life
 For three centuries Sir Philip Sidney had remained a typical image of the
English gentleman. He was born out of a noble family at Penshurst, Kent,
November 30, 1554. He was named after his godfather, Philip II of Spain,
then Queen Mary’s husband. At fourteen Sidney was sent to Oxford, where he
was noted as a good student. After leaving the university he got the Queen’s
permission to travel on the Continent. He followed the ambassador to Paris,
and saw much of court society there. In the travel to Germany at Frankfort,
he met the Protestant scholar
Hubert Languet. With him, Sidney formed a
close and profitable friendship. He went on to Vienna, Hungary, Italy, and
back by
the Low Countries, returning to England at the age of twenty. He
became an accomplished and courtly gentleman, with some experience of
practical diplomacy, and the first-hand knowledge of the politics of the
Continent.
Sidney was introduced to the court of Elizabeth in 1575. Only within two
years he was sent back to the Continent on several diplomatic commissions,
when he used every opportunity to further his knowledge of Protestantism.
Wherever he went, he seemed to have made the most favorable impression by
his character and his abilities. During the years between 1578 and 1585 he
was chiefly at court and in the Parliament, and in this period he wrote most
of his writings. In 1585 he left England to start the office of Governor of
Flushing, and in the next year he was mortally wounded at the battle of
Zutphen, dying on October 17, 1586. All England went into mourning, and
the impression of being brilliant and fascinating personality has never
passed away.
Major Works
Sidney’s literary work was all published after his death. The Arcadia, an
elaborate pastoral romance and a highly well-written prose mixed with verse,
was for the entertainment of his sister, the Countess of Pembroke. The
collection of sonnets, Astrophel and Stella, was evoked by Sidney’s relation
to Penelope Devereux, daughter of the Earl of Essex. While they were both
little children, there had been some talk of a marriage between them; but
the warm feelings appears only after Penelope’s unhappy marriage to Lord
Rich. There has been much controversy over the question of the sincerity of
these remarkable poems, and over the precise nature of Sidney’s sentiments
toward the lady. She inspired them, and some people regarded Sidney’s
writings as an open declaration of a genuine passion, others as mere
conventional literary exercises. Modern opinion is that they express a platonic love. It was quite common in the courtly society at that time.
In 1579,
Stephen Gosson published a violent attack on the arts, called
The School of Abuse, and dedicated it without permission to Sidney. To
answer that, Sidney wrote his Defense of Poesy, an eloquent argument for
imaginative literature, with a sense of humor. The aesthetic theories of
this work come mainly from Italian works, but it is thoroughly filled with
Sidney’s own personality. It may be regarded as the beginning of literary
criticism in England. Sir Philip Sidney was considered both by his day and
history as an ideal and courteous knight. Together with Thomas More,
Sidney was a Renaissance man. A nobleman, he was an active participant in
the most engaging and significant literary discussions of the time.
Like works of Wyatt and Surrey, none of Sidney’s work was published during
his lifetime, although the manuscript was widely read by many people. His
sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella, can be considered a model, many later
poets followed his pattern of writing. Sidney’s sequence of 108 sonnets also
includes 11 songs. His sonnets move more toward modern English and are
therefore easier for the modern reader to read and understand. They combine
Petrarchan ideas with original expression and feeling. They are gradually
moving away from mere translation to true creative expression. The sequence
leads toward a complete narrative or free-standing story. He used very clear
rhyme schemes, among them abab abab cdcd ee. His themes were not confined to
the love thinking about his beloved, instead, they have such different
themes as the notion of originality in English and the act of writing itself
as could be observed from the first sonnet of the sequence.
Astrophel and Stella
1
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
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;
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain:
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay,
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite--
“Fool”, said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart and write”.
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