Sir Philip Sidney

Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–86), Elizabethan poet and courtier, a favorite with Queen Elizabeth I and a classic example of Renaissance chivalry. He had great influence on English poetry, both through his poems, of which the best known are Arcadia (1590) and the love sonnets Astrophel and Stella (1591), and through his critical work The Defence of Poesie (1595), all published posthumously.