ENG 342: Renaissance English Literature

Sir Philip Sidney's experimentation and innovations in English verse marked the turning point in the development of sixteenth-century poetry, as did the theories on the status and function of imaginative writing.

This book gives the reader a new perspective on the significance of Sir Philip Sidney to the English Renaissance by focusing on his conflicted exemplarity as it is fashioned by his contemporaries and poetic successors.

Edward Berry's The Making of Sir Philip Sidney explores how Sidney 'made' or created himself as a poet by 'making' representations of himself in the roles of some of his most literary creations: Philisides, Astrophil, and the intrusive persona of A Defence of Poetry.

Sidney, Philip, Sir, 1554-1586. Criticism and interpretation. Astrophel and Stella (Sidney, Philip)
English language Early modern, 1500-1700 Style.
Sonnets, English History and criticism.

Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 ? 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age. His works include Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Poesy (also known as The Defence of Poetry or An Apology for Poetry), and The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.