Sir Philip Sidney has always appealed to his fellow poets as the type of what a poet should be. Shelley called him ‘a spirit without spot’ and Browning called him ‘the starry paladin’. His legend bears comparison, in many respects, with that of Rupert Brooke.

He was born at Penshurst, in Kent, on 30 November 1554, of a noble family, and named after Philip II of Spain, his godfather. Educated at Shrewsbury and Christ Church, he came down prematurely from Oxford at the age of fourteen, without taking a degree, when his college was closed

Literary Review

Feb 2000

Categories

Robert Nye

Will Three Survive?

We Could Do With A Few More, Monsieur

New Selected Spells by the Royal Witch Doctor

The Dark Side of The Stratford Man

Infinite Riches in a Little Room

Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?

Love’s Lodgings Lost

A Notable Disliker Of Milk and Martyrdom

Name: Seemore. Crime: Extreme.

Shakespeare’s Annus Mirabilis

Robert Nye

Too Many Pimples?

Philip Sidney: A Double Life

By Alan Stewart

Chatto & Windus 368pp £20