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Sir Philip Sidney: A Brief Guide

Richard Kroll, UCI

Dates:

November 30, 1554--born.

1573, 1575--Travels on the continent; friendship with Languet.

1578-80?--Writes the old Arcadia.

1579--Gosson's Schoole of Abuse dedicated to Sidney.

1580--In trouble with the Queen; Sidney objects to her projected marriage with

1581-82?--Writes Astrophel and Stella.

1582--Penelope Devereux (Sidney's "Stella") marries Lord Rich.

1583--Sidney marries Frances Walsingham.

1584--Begins the Arcadia.

1585--Appointed Governor of Flushing, the Netherlands.

September-October 1586--Shot in the thigh during a battle with the Spanish at

February 1587--Accorded a state funeral, unusual for a mere knight.

1590--The new Arcadia published.

1591--Astrophel and Stella published in a pirated edition.

1593--The composite Arcadia (the new version plus Books 3-5 of the old version)

1595--Defence of Poetry published.

1598--Composite Arcadia published with Astrophel and Stella and Certain

(Much of this information was taken from Katherine Duncan-Jones, editor of The Old Arcadia. The World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1985.)