Sidney Philip - some sonnets. Biography See what "Philip Sidney" is in other dictionaries

Philip Sidney - English poet and

An aristocrat by birth and an Oxford graduate, Sidney had a love of science, language and literature and became a patron of poets before becoming famous in this capacity himself.

Preparing for the diplomatic career, he spent three years on the continent in France, where he became close to the Protestant writers Marot, Duplessis-Mornay, and Beza. Having survived St. Bartholomew's Night in Paris, Sidney was eager to fight for the cause of Protestantism. from 1576 he held the position of clerk. In 1577 he was appointed ambassador to the imperial court in Prague, where he spent one year, after which he fell into disgrace because of his religious ideas. The Queen did not share his religious ideas; then he retired for a while to his estates, where his poetic talent unexpectedly revealed itself. This was facilitated by literary leisure in the circle of his sister Mary, the future Countess of Pembroke, patron of the arts. In the quiet of the countryside, Sidney created a cycle of lyrical sonnets and returned to court in the blaze of new literary glory, after Elizabeth graciously accepted the pastoral “The May Queen” dedicated to her and made him a knight in 1583. In the capital, a circle of poets called the Areopagus rallied around him, including Gabriel Harvey, Edmund Spenser, Fulk Greville and Edward Dyar. From now on, Sidney became in the eyes of his contemporaries the English embodiment of the perfect courtier, combining aristocracy, education, valor and poetic gift.

In 1581 and 1584-5 he became a member of the Kent Parliament. In 1583 he went to war in the Netherlands. He achieved military successes there. In mid-1585, he was appointed governor of the conquered territories and leader of the royal cavalry. Within a year, under his leadership, English. The troops did not achieve results; in the lost battle of Zutphen, Sidney was seriously wounded. During transportation to Arnhem he received blood poisoning, from which he died. His body was transported to England and buried with royal honors in St. Paul's Cathedral on February 16, 1587. The tragic death of the Protestant hero made him an English national legend, and for many years Sir Philip remained the most popular poet in England. He also became the first of the Elizabethan poets whose poems were translated into other European languages.

Sir Philip Sidney [Sir Philip Sidney; 30.11.1554, Penshurst Place, Kent - 17.10.1586, Arnhem, Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands] - courtier, statesman, warrior, poet and patron of scientists and poets, was considered the ideal gentleman of his time. In the history of English literature, he remained an innovator three times - in the field of poetry, prose and literary theory. Apart from Shakespeare's sonnets, Sidney's Astrophil and Stella cycle is considered the finest sonnet cycle of the Elizabethan era, and Sidney's Defense of Poetry embodied the critical ideas of Renaissance theorists as applied to England.

Philip Sidney was the eldest son Sir Henry Sidney And Lady Mary Dudley, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, his godfather was the Spanish himself King Philip II. After accession Elizabeth to the throne, his father was appointed Lord President of Wales (and later three times appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), and his uncle, Robert Dudley, received the title of Earl of Leicester and became the Queen's most trusted advisor. Of course, with such relatives, young Sidney was destined for a career as a statesman, diplomat and warrior. At the age of 10, he entered the most progressive school at the time in Shrewsbury, where his classmate was a poet Fulk Greville(later court official Elizabeth), who became his lifelong friend and first biographer. From February 1568 to 1571, he completed a three-year course of study at Oxford, and later traveled throughout Europe (from May 1572 to June 1575), improving his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. He was an eyewitness to the tragic Night of St. Bartholomew, also acquired direct knowledge of European politics and became acquainted with many leading statesmen of Europe. His first appointment at court (in 1576) was the position of royal cupbearer, which he inherited from his father, not lucrative but honorable. In February 1577, at the age of only 22, he was sent as ambassador to the German Emperor Rudolf II and the Count Palatine Louis VI to express condolences queen elizabeth on the occasion of the death of their fathers. Along with this formal task, he is entrusted with sounding out the attitude of the German princes to the formation of a pan-European Protestant League (this was the main political goal of England - by uniting other Protestant states in Europe to balance the threatening power of Roman Catholic Spain). Sidney returned with an enthusiastic report on the prospects of forming such a league, but the cautious queen sent other emissaries to check his report, and they returned with less optimistic views about the reliability of the German princes as allies. Sidney received his next responsible official appointment only eight years later. Nevertheless, he continued to engage in politics and diplomacy. In 1579 he wrote a confidential letter to the Queen objecting to her engagement to Duke of Anjou, Roman Catholic heir to the French throne. In addition, Sidney was Member of Parliament for Kent in 1581 and 1584-1585. He corresponded with foreign statesmen and entertained important guests. Sidney was one of the few English contemporaries to take an interest in the recent discoveries in America, and supported the navigator's research Sir Martin Frobisher. Later he became interested in the organization's project Sir Walter Raleigh American colony in Virginia and even intended to go on a campaign against the Spaniards together with Sir Francis Drake. He had diverse scientific and artistic interests, he discussed issues of art with the painter Nicholas Hillard and chemistry problems with a scientist John Dee, was a great patron of scientists and writers. More than 40 works by English and European authors were dedicated to him - works on theology, ancient and modern history, geography, military science, jurisprudence, logic, medicine and poetry, which indicates the breadth of his interests. Among the many poets and prose writers who sought his patronage were Edmund Spencer, Thomas Watson, Abraham Fraunce And Thomas Lodge. Sidney was an excellent horseman and became famous for his participation in tournaments, partly sporting competitions and partly symbolic performances, which were the main entertainment of the court. He longed for a life of danger, but his official work was largely ceremonial - serving the queen at court and accompanying her on trips around the country. In January 1583 he was knighted, not for any outstanding services, but to give him the right to replace his friend, Prince Casimir, who was due to receive the Order of the Garter but could not attend the ceremony. In September he married Francisca, daughter of Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham. They had one daughter, Elizabeth. Since the queen did not provide him with a responsible position, he turned to literature in search of an outlet for his energy. In 1580 he completed the heroic novel in prose "Arcadia". It is characteristic that with aristocratic nonchalance he called it “a trifle,” while the novel is a narrative with an intricate plot, consisting of 180,000 words. At the beginning of 1581 his aunt, Countess of Huntingdon, brought her niece to the court Penelope Devereux, who at the end of the year married a young man Lord Rich. Sidney fell in love with her and in the summer of 1582 he composed a series of sonnets “Astrophil and Stella” about the love of the young courtier Astrophil for the married lady Stella, describing the love that unexpectedly overtook him, his struggle with it and the final renunciation of love in the name of the “high goal” of serving society . These sonnets, witty and full of passion, became an outstanding phenomenon of Elizabethan poetry.

Penelope Devereux, sister of Elizabeth's favorite Earl of Essex, was an extraordinary person. She was very beautiful, educated, spoke French, Italian and Spanish, and participated in court performances. Penelope's marriage to Earl Rich was not happy, and, having given birth to her husband four children, she around 1588-1589. became a mistress Sir Charles Blount. Having received a divorce in 1605, she married Blount (by this time she and he had four children). The new marriage turned out to be short-lived - Blount soon died, and after him, in 1607, Penelope died.

But let's go back to 1582. Around this time, Sidney also wrote “A Defense of Poetry” - the philosophical and aesthetic credo of the creators of new English poetry, an eloquent proof of the social value of creativity, which remained the most wonderful achievement of Elizabethan literary criticism. In 1584, he began to radically rework his Arcadia, turning a straightforward plot into a multi-dimensional narrative. The novel remained only half finished, but even in this form it remains the most important prose work of the 16th century in the English language. He also wrote a number of other poems and later began translating the Psalms. He wrote for his own amusement and for the amusement of close friends; With a disdain for commerce typical of aristocratic views, he did not allow his works to be published during his lifetime. A revised version of the Arcadia was not printed in complete form until 1590; in 1593, a new edition added the last three books in the original version (the full text of the original version remained in manuscript until 1926).

Astrophil and Stella was published in 1591 in a distorted version, Defense of Poetry in 1595, and the collected works in 1598 (it was reprinted in 1599 and nine times during the 17th century).

In July 1585, Sidney received the long-awaited appointment. He and his uncle Earl of Warwick, was appointed head of the department that provided military supplies in the Kingdom. In November the Queen was finally persuaded to help Holland against the Spanish invaders by sending them troops led by Earl of Leicester. Sidney was appointed governor of Flushing and given command of a troop of cavalry. The next 11 months were spent on ineffective campaigns against the Spanish, and Sidney found it difficult to maintain the morale of his poorly paid troops. He wrote to his father-in-law that if the queen did not pay the soldiers, she would lose her garrisons, but as for himself, love for the goal would never allow him to tire of trying to achieve it, because “a wise and faithful man should never be upset if he does the right thing.” own duty, although others do not fulfill it.”

On September 22, 1586, Sidney volunteered to participate in an operation to prevent the Spanish from delivering food to the city of Zutphen. The transport was guarded by large forces that outnumbered the British, but Sidney broke through enemy lines three times, and with his thigh shattered by a bullet, he left the battlefield on his own. He was taken to Arnhem, the wound became inflamed, and he prepared for his inevitable death. In his last hours he admitted that he had not been able to get rid of his love for Lady Rich, but now joy and peace are returning to him.

Sidney was buried in St. Paul in London on February 16, 1587, with the honors usually accorded to very distinguished aristocrats. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge and European scholars produced memorial editions in his honor, and almost every English poet wrote poetry in his memory. He deserved these honors, although he did not accomplish any outstanding government affairs - one can write a history of the political and military events of the time of Elizabeth, limiting oneself to just mentioning his name. His ideal image evoked admiration.

Op.: A Defense of Poesie and Poems. L.: Cassell and Company, 1891; The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910; Shelley's Poetry and Prose: A Norton Critical Edition. 2nd ed. /Ed. by D. H. Reiman, N. Fraistat. N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002; in Russian lane - Astrophil and Stella. Defense of poetry. M.: Nauka, 1982. (Literary monuments); Stanzas of the century-2. Anthology of world poetry in Russian translations of the 20th century / Under. ed. E. Vitkovsky. M.: Polifact, 1998. (Results of the century. A view from Russia).

Lit.: Greville F. Life of the Renowned Sir Philip Sidney. L., 1652; Kimbrough R. Sir Philip Sidney. N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971; Sidney: the Critical Heritage/Ed. by M. Garrett L.: Routledge, 1996; Motsohein B.I. Who is this gentleman? (Conversations about William Shakespeare, his era and contemporaries, his earthly fate and immortal glory, the fascinating mysteries of his biography and their inventive solutions). M.: Fuel and Energy, 2001. P. 204-207; Gavin A. Writing after Sidney: the Literary Response to Sir Philip Sidney 1586-1640. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006; Khaltrin-Khalturina E.V. Anthology of poetic forms in Philip Sidney’s “Old Arcadia”: under the sign of the confrontation between Apollo and Cupid // Verse and prose in European literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance / Rep. ed. L. V. Evdokimova; Institute of World Lit. them. A. M. Gorky RAS. M.: Nauka, 2006. pp. 117-136.

Bibliographer. description: Motsohein B.I. Sir Philip Sidney [Electronic resource] // Information and research database “Shakespeare’s Contemporaries”. URL: .

Sidney had a love of science, language and literature, and became a patron of poets before becoming famous in this capacity himself.

Paying tribute to other forms of poetry - elegies, ballads, odes, heroic and satirical verse, after Sidney English poets preferred the sonnet to all others. E. Spencer, D. Davis left hundreds of miniature masterpieces contained in the same 14 lines.

F. Sidney acted as a serious theorist of literature and art in the treatise “ Defense of Poetry" - an aesthetic manifesto of his circle, written in response to Puritan pamphlets condemning "frivolous poetry." It is imbued with humanistic reflections on the high purpose of literature, which educates a moral personality and helps to achieve spiritual perfection, which is impossible without the conscious efforts of people themselves. According to the author, the goal of all sciences, as well as creativity, is “to understand the essence of man, ethical and political, with subsequent influence on him.” With humor and polemical fervor, drawing on Aristotle's Poetics, as well as examples from ancient history, philosophy and literature, Sidney argued that a poet is more suitable for promoting high moral ideals than a moral philosopher or historian with their boring preaching and edification. Thanks to his boundless imagination, he can freely paint the image of an ideal person in front of an audience. The poet in his eyes grew into a co-author and even a rival of Nature: everyone else notices its laws, and “ only the poet... creates essentially a different nature,... something that is better than what is generated by Nature or has never existed...»

Sidney's thoughts about the purpose of poetry were accepted by the best writers of that time - E. Spencer, W. Shakespeare, B. Johnson. He laid the foundation for a tradition that determined the face of literature in the era of Queen Elizabeth, created by intellectual poets obsessed with high ethical ideals, but alien to philistine moralizing.

F. Sidney and his protégé E. Spencer became the founders of English pastoral. Sidney's unfinished novel " Arcadia“, in which prose and poetry freely alternated, telling about the exciting adventures of two princes in love in a blessed land, the idyllic description of which resurrected the image of ancient Arcadia, but at the same time it reveals the landscape of the poet’s native England.

Links

• E.V. Khaltrin-Khalturina. An Anthology of Poetic Forms in Philip Sidney's Old Arcadia: Under the Sign of the Opposition between Apollo and Cupid// Verse and prose in European literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance / Rep. ed. L.V. Evdokimova; Institute of World Lit. them. A.M. Gorky RAS. – M.: Nauka, 2006.). (in Russian, in the author's design and with the permission of the author)

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See what "Philip Sidney" is in other dictionaries:

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- (lat. humanus humane) a system of worldview, the basis of which is the protection of the dignity and self-worth of the individual, his freedom and right to happiness. The origins of modern geography go back to the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), when in Italy, and then in... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

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From the novel "Arcadia"

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
Where the mind is freed from the snares
And strives for good and truth;
Where the heavenly hosts appear before the eyes of the host,
And the image of the Creator appears in my thoughts,
Where the throne of Contemplation is located,
Eagle-eyed, hope-winged;
It flies to the stars, with all of Nature underneath it.
You are like a king in undisturbed peace,
Wise thoughts flock to you,
The voices of birds bring you harmony,
They erect fortifications using wood;
If there is peace inside, the outside will not approach.

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
There is no traitor here under the guise of friendship,
Not behind the back of a hissing envious man,
Not an intriguer with poisonous flattery,
Not an arrogant, intricate jester,
Nor the debt stranglehold of a benefactor,
No chatter - the nurse of ignorance,
Neither toady, scratchers of vanity;
Empty honors will not lure us here,
The shackles of gold will not blind your eyes;
We haven’t heard about malice here, about slander,
If there is no sin in you, sin has not walked here.
Who would believe a lie to a tree?

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
But if the soul were in a bodily building,
Beautiful and tender like a lily,
Whose voice is a shame to canaries,
Whose shadow is a refuge in any danger,
Whose wisdom is heard in every quiet word,
Whose virtue together with innocence
Confuses even the usual gossip,
Disarms the sting of envy,
Oh, if only we could meet such a soul,
That I also loved loneliness,
How joyfully we would greet her.
Oh dear forest! She wouldn't destroy it -
Decorated your privacy.

From "Astrophil and Stella"

Not a short shot on the spot

Not a short shot on the spot
Cupid achieved victory over me:
Like a cunning enemy, he dug under the walls
And quietly the city fell asleep.

I saw, but still did not understand,
Already loved, but tried to hide love,
Succumbed, but not yet submitted,
And, having submitted, he still grumbled.

Now I have lost this will too,
But, like a Muscovite born in slavery,
I praise tyranny and cherish patience,
Kissing the hand with which he was beaten;

And I bring her fantasy flowers,
Like some kind of paradise, depicting your hell.

How slowly you rise, languid month

How slowly you rise, languid month,
To the sky, with what longing in the eyes!
Oh, is it really there, in heaven,
Is the irrepressible archer tyrannizing hearts?

Alas, I myself suffered from the treacherous
I know why you're all wasted away,
Like in a book, I read in your features
A story of love, painful and dark.

O pale Moon, my poor brother!
Answer me, do they really consider loyalty there?
For a whim - and they want worship,
But the worshipers are despised?

Are there really beauties there as well as here?
Is ingratitude called pride?

Oh Stella! my life, my light and heat

Oh Stella! my life, my light and heat,
The only sun in the sky
An unquenchable ray, an unquenchable ardor,
Sweet nectar of eyes and eyes!

Why are you wasting your gift of eloquence?
Sovereign as Amphion's harp,
To extinguish the fire of love lit
In my soul is it your power of enchantment?

When good words come from sweet lips
They appear like precious pearls,
What is appropriate for virtue to wear,

I listen, barely touched by their meaning,
And I think: “What happiness - this
It’s a lovely virtue to possess!”

Do I mean less to you?

Do I mean less to you?
What is your favorite pug? I promise
That I am no worse suited to please, -
Give me whatever task you want.

Try my dog's devotion:
Tell me to wait - I'll turn to stone,
Bring a glove - I’ll rush headlong
And I’ll bring my soul in my teeth to boot.

Alas! to me - negligence, but to him
You lavish affection tenderly,
Kiss on the nose; you, apparently,
She is favorable only to unreasonable creatures.

Well - let's wait until love itself
Will deprive me of my last mind.

Song five

When your gaze gave me hope,
With hope - delight, with delight - fervor of thoughts,
My tongue and pen are animated by you.
I thought: without you my words are empty,
I thought: there is darkness everywhere, where you don’t shine,
Those who came into the world came to serve you.

I said that you are a hundred times more beautiful than everyone else,
You are a balm for the eyes, a sweet poison for the heart,
That your fingers are like Cupid's arrows,
That the eyes eclipsed the sky with brightness,
That Percy is the Milky Way, speech is the music of the heights,
And that my love is like an ocean, bottomless.

Now there is no hope, your delight has been killed,
But the ardor still lives, although, having changed its appearance,
He, turning into rage, controls the soul.
From praises the speech turned to reproaches,
There is now abuse heard, where praise was heard;
The key that locked the chest also unlocks it.

You, who were hitherto a collection of perfections,
Mirror of beauty, abode of bliss
And the justification of all, without memory of lovers,
Look: your wings are dragging in the dust,
Infamy clouds clouded the azure
Your deaf heavens, burdened with guilt.

O Muse! you, cherishing her on your chest,
She fed me with ambrosia - look,
What did she use your gifts for?
Having despised me, she neglected you,
Don't let her laugh! - after all, having insulted the ambassador,
Thus, the Lady was offended.

Can you really bear it when your honor is harmed?
Blow, trumpet, collect! Revenge, my Muse, revenge!
Strike the enemy quickly, do not turn away the blow!
Boiling water is already bubbling in my chest;
Oh Stella, get the lesson you deserve:
For the truthful - an honest world, for deceit - an evil punishment.

Don't wait for old speeches about the whiteness of snow,
About the modesty of lilies, the shades of pearls,
About the curls of the seas in a radiant radiance, -
But about your soul, where the word and the truth are apart,
Ingratitude soaked through and through.
There is no worse evil in the world than being ungrateful!

No, there is something worse: you are a thief! I'm ready to swear.
Thief, Lord forgive me! And the worst of thieves!
A thief steals out of need, in immense despair,
And you, having everything, take the last,
You steal all my joys from me.
It is a sin to harm enemies, let alone faithful servants.

But a noble thief will not kill
And choose new hearts for the victim.
And on your forehead burns the mark of a murderer.
The scars of my deep wounds are bleeding,
They were caused by your cruelty and deceit, -
So you decided to pay for your loyalty.

What a killer's role! There are many clues
Other outrageous deeds (of which there are many),
To accuse you of damned tyranny.
I was lawlessly enslaved by you,
Surrendered into slavery, doomed to torture without trial!
The king, having despised the truth, becomes a Tyrant.

Oh, you're proud of this! You consider yourself a ruler!
So I will accuse you of vile rebellion!
Yes, in obvious rebellion (Nature is my witness):
You blossomed so tenderly in the Principality of Love,
So what? - raised a rebellion against Love!
What is virtue worth with the stain of betrayal?

But even though rebels are sometimes praised,
Know: you will forever bear the stamp of shame.
Having betrayed Cupid and hidden from Venus
(At least you keep the signs of Venus on yourself),
It’s in vain that you’ll run to Diana now! -
The one who betrayed once will no longer have faith.

Is this not enough? Add blackness?
You are a Witch, I swear! Even though you look like an angel;
However, it’s not about witchcraft, it’s about beauty.
From your spell I became paler than a dead man,
There is a cast-iron weight in my feet, the coldness of lead in my heart,
My mind and flesh are all numb.

But witches are sometimes given the opportunity to repent.
Alas! I am destined to tell the worst:
You are the devil, I say, in the robes of a seraphim.
Your face tells me to renounce God's gates,
Refusal plunges me into hell and burns my soul,
You crafty Devil, irresistible temptation!

And you, robber, evil murderer, you,
Fierce tyrant, fiend of darkness,
Traitor, demon, you are still loved by me.
What else can I say? - when in my words
When you reconcile, you will find so many feelings alive,
That all my blasphemies will turn out to be praise.

From "Miscellaneous Poems"

Parting

I understood, although not immediately and not suddenly,
Why do they say about the dead: “Gone”?
This sound seemed too sluggish,
To denote the worst of evils;

When did the stars become cruel
Pointed a bow at my chest of separation,
I realized that a mortal was frightened,
What does this short verb mean?

I still walk, I say words,
And the firmament did not collapse to the ground,
But the joy that lived in the soul is dead,
Because separation from my dear one means death.

No, worse! death will destroy everything at once,
And this one destroys happiness and prolongs torment.

Nanny beauty
To the tune of Baciami vita mia

Desire, sleep! Sleep, dear child!
So Nanny Beauty sings, rocking.
- Love, you wake me up by putting me to sleep!

Sleep, my baby, without whining or whining!
I'm tired of you, you slut.
- Alas, you wake me up by putting me to sleep!

Sleep, go to sleep! What, child, is the matter with you?
I’ll hold you to my chest... Well, bye-bye!
- No! - cries. - I can’t sleep at all!

Disastrous joy

disastrous joy,
My living flour
You force my gaze
Strive for the burning rays.

From the beauty of heaven,
From blinding purity
The mind has retreated into confusion,
Feelings were taken captive,

Joyfully they surrendered into captivity,
Having unprotected the heart,
Taking my life away;

They went to the suns radiant,
To the flame where they died
The most beautiful death, -

Like Sylvan, who
Fell in love with a bright fire,
Meeting him for the first time.

But, Lady, their lives
In death you saved
You, in whom love is imperishable;

My feeling died
I myself died without feeling,
Yet in you we are alive.

I'm transformed forever
In the color that turns the head
Behind you, my sun.

If I fall, I will rise,
If I die, I will rise again,
In the change of faces - unchanged.

There is no life for me without you,
My feelings are with you,
My thoughts are with you,
What I am looking for is only in you.
All that is in me is you alone.

An aristocrat by birth and an Oxford graduate, Sidney had a love of science, language and literature and became a patron of poets before becoming famous in this capacity himself.

Preparing for the diplomatic career, he spent three years on the continent in France, where he became close to the Protestant writers Marot, Duplessis-Mornay, and Beza. Having survived St. Bartholomew's Night in Paris, Sidney was eager to fight for the cause of Protestantism. But since the queen did not share his point of view, he retired for a while to his estates, where his poetic talent unexpectedly revealed itself. This was facilitated by literary leisure in the circle of his sister Mary, the future Countess of Pembroke, patron of the arts. In rural silence, Sidney created a cycle of lyrical sonnets and returned to court in the blaze of new literary glory, after Elizabeth graciously accepted the pastoral “The May Queen” dedicated to her. In the capital, a circle of poets called the Areopagus rallied around him, including G. Harvey, E. Spencer, F. Greville and E. Dyar. From now on, Sidney became in the eyes of his contemporaries the English embodiment of the perfect courtier, combining aristocracy, education, valor and poetic gift. Having gone to fight for the cause of Protestantism in the Netherlands, he was mortally wounded and, dying, made a noble gesture - he gave up the flask of water brought to him to a bleeding ordinary soldier. His body was transported to England and buried with royal honors in St. Paul's Cathedral. The tragic death of the Protestant hero made him an English national legend. and for many years Sir Philip remained the most popular poet in England. He also became the first of the Elizabethan poets whose poems were translated into other European languages.

Sidney was an innovator in poetry and literary theory. Despite the fact that the established form of the sonnet was a favorite and extremely widespread in Europe in the 16th century, he did not imitate Italian or Spanish models, like many epigones who “disturbed the dead Petrarch with a melodious groan” with “the crackle of pompous speeches,” although Sidney sincerely revered Petrarch and translated much of Italian and Spanish lyric poetry into English. He created a cycle of 108 sonnets “Astrophil and Stella”, the originality of which consisted in combining these poetic miniatures with a common concept into an epic, a true “tragicomedy of love” with its hopes and seductions, jealousy and disappointments, the struggle of virtue and passion. The ending of the cycle is sad: the lyrical hero remained unrewarded for his love and devotion, and at the same time optimistic, because torment and trials showed him the path to moral perfection. Love has discovered true beauty and from now on will serve as support in sorrows and give strength for new exploits, including in the civil field.

The poet experimented with the inclusion of dialogue in sonnets, which made his heroes unusually vivid living characters. At the same time, his poems are full of paradoxical conclusions and humor that are unexpected for the reader. With Sidney's light hand, subtle irony became a characteristic feature of English lyrics.

Paying tribute to other forms of poetry - elegies, ballads, odes, heroic and satirical verse, after Sidney English poets preferred the sonnet to all others. E. Spencer, D. Davis left hundreds of miniature masterpieces contained in the same 14 lines.

F. Sidney acted as a serious theorist of literature and art in the treatise “Defense of Poetry” - an aesthetic manifesto of his circle, written in response to Puritan pamphlets condemning “frivolous poetry”. It is imbued with humanistic reflections on the high purpose of literature, which educates a moral personality and helps to achieve spiritual perfection, which is impossible without the conscious efforts of people themselves. According to the author, the goal of all sciences, as well as creativity, is “to understand the essence of man, ethical and political, with subsequent influence on him.” With humor and polemical fervor, drawing on Aristotle's Poetics, as well as examples from ancient history, philosophy and literature, Sidney argued that a poet is more suitable for promoting high moral ideals than a moral philosopher or historian with their boring preaching and edification. Thanks to his boundless imagination, he can freely paint the image of an ideal person in front of an audience. The poet in his eyes grew into a co-author and even a rival of Nature: everyone else notices its patterns, and “only the poet... creates essentially a different nature,... something that is better than what was generated by Nature or never existed...”

Sidney's thoughts about the purpose of poetry were accepted by the best writers of that time - E. Spencer, W. Shakespeare, B. Johnson. He laid the foundation for a tradition that determined the face of literature in the era of Queen Elizabeth, created by intellectual poets obsessed with high ethical ideals, but alien to philistine moralizing.

F. Sidney and his protégé E. Spencer became the founders of English pastoral. In 1590, Sidney’s unfinished novel “Arcadia” was published, in which prose and poetry freely alternated, telling about the exciting adventures of two princes in love in a blessed land, the idyllic description of which resurrected the image of ancient Arcadia, but at the same time, one could guess in it the native landscape poet of England.