These sonnets feature elements of the Italian models of Petrarch and Ronsard and are considered revolutionary in defining Elizabethan poetry. Around the same time, he would compose the single greatest example of literary criticism of the age, The Defence of Poesie. In 1581, he is speculated to have fallen in love with Penelope Devereaux, the lady in waiting to a countess she married someone else but he is thought to have composed Astrophel and Stella with her in mind (Ringler). When Queen Elizabeth failed to give him an important post, he turned his creative energies to poetry and playwriting. Born into an aristocratic and influential family (his father was lord president of Wales, his uncle was the Queen’s most trusted advisor), he was destined for the life of a statesman. He was a poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who was considered the “ideal” man of his day. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was a prominent figure of English literature even in his lifetime and helped define the Elizabethan era.
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