Defense of Poesie : Astrophil and Stella and Other Writings

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) was a patron, brilliant courtier, diplomat, scholar, soldier and lover, as well as being the first and one of the most important writers of the English Renaissance; his writings, serious or light-hearted and always experimental, vindicate this high esteem. The sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella is distinguished in the English language as a masterpiece of lyric splendor and a classic of the courtly tradition.