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Sir Philip Sidney as an 'iconic figure' of the Elizabethan era. I hope they won't be forgotten

Philip Sidney

Defense of Poetry

Philip Sidney

Defense of Poetry

Translation by L. I. Volodarskaya

When the noble Edward Wotton and I were at the imperial court (1), we were taught the art of horsemanship by John Pietro Pugliano, who ruled there with great honor in the stables (2). And, without destroying our idea of the versatility of the Italian mind, he not only passed on his skill to us, but also made efforts to enrich our minds with reflections, from his point of view, the most worthy. As far as I remember, no one else filled my ears with such abundance of speeches when (infuriated by small pay or inspired by our student's adoration) he practiced the praise of his occupation. He inspired us that they are both the masters of war and the adornment of the world, that they are swift and enduring, that they have no equal either in the military camp or at court. Moreover, he makes the absurd assertion that no worldly virtue brings greater glory to the king than the art of horsemanship, in comparison with which the art of governing the state seemed to him only pedanteria (Petty meticulousness (Italian).). In conclusion, he usually praised the horse, which has no equal among animals: it is the most helpful without flattery, and the most beautiful, and loyal, and brave, and so on in the same way. So if I hadn’t learned a little logic (3) before I met him, I would have thought that he was trying to convince me to wish I was a horse. However, although not in short speeches, he still inspired me with the idea that love, better than any gilding, makes us see the beauty in what we are involved in.

So, if Pugliano with his strong passion and weak arguments (4) did not convince you, I will offer you as another example myself, who (I don’t know by what misfortune) in his old and most carefree years suddenly found himself in the rank of poet, and now I have to defend an occupation that I did not want for myself, therefore, if in my words there appears to be more good will than reasonable arguments, be lenient with them, for the student who follows his teacher will be forgiven. Still, I must say, since I consider it my sad duty to defend poor Poetry (5), which formerly aroused almost the greatest respect among learned men, and has now become a laughing stock for children, I intend to present all the arguments I have, because that if before no one discredited her good name, now even philosophers are called to help against her, the stupid one, which is fraught with the great danger of a civil war between the Muses.

Firstly, it seems fair to me to remind all those who, while professing knowledge, revile Poetry, that they are very close to ingratitude in seeking to discredit that which the noblest peoples, speaking the noblest languages, reverence as the first source of light in ignorance, as a nurse who strengthened them with her milk for more inaccessible sciences. And aren’t they like a hedgehog (6), who, having made his way into someone else’s hole as a guest, survived the owner from there? Or an echidna that kills its parent with its birth? (7) Let enlightened Greece, with its numerous sciences, show me at least one book created before Musaeus, Homer and Hesiod (8) - and these three were only poets. No, no history can find the names of writers who, having lived earlier, would have created an art other than the art of Orpheus, Linus (9) and others, who were the first in this country, thinking about posterity, to entrust their knowledge to the pen and can in fairness to be called the fathers of knowledge: for not only in time they are the first (although antiquity is always venerable), but also because they were the first to induce wild, untamed minds with enchanting beauty to admire knowledge. They say that Amphion (10) moved stones with the help of poetry when he built Thebes, and that Orpheus was listened to by animals - in fact, insensitive, bestial people. The Romans had Livia Andronicus and Ennius (11). The poets Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch (12) were the first to elevate the Italian language, turning it into a treasury of science. In England there were Gower and Chaucer (13), and after them, admired and inspired by their incomparable predecessors, others followed, beautifying our native language both in this and other arts.

And it was so obvious that the philosophers of Greece for a long time dared to show themselves to the world only under the guise of a poet. Thales, Empedocles and Parmenides (14) sang their natural philosophy in verse, Pythagoras and Phocylides (15) did the same with their moral teachings, Tyrtaeus (16) with military affairs and Solon (17) with politics; or rather, being poets, they applied their talent to such areas of higher knowledge that before them remained hidden from people. The fact that the wise Solon was a true poet is clear from the famous legend of Atlantis, written by him in verse and continued by Plato (18).

Truly, even with Plato, everyone, having read it, will discover that although the content and power of his creations are Philosophy, their dress and beauty are borrowed by him from Poetry, for everything is based on his dialogues, in which he forces many honest citizens of Athens to talk about such matters , about which they would have nothing to say even on the rack; Moreover, if poetic descriptions of their meetings - be it at a rich feast or during a pleasant walk - with simple tales woven into them, for example about the ring of Gyges (19), do not seem to someone the flowers of poetry, it means that this person’s foot will never stepped into the garden of Apollo (20).

And even historiographers (although they have past events on their lips and truth inscribed on their foreheads) happily borrowed the style and, as far as possible, the influence of the poets. Thus, Herodotus (21) gave his History the names of the nine Muses; he, like others who followed him, appropriated to himself the ardent descriptions of passions that belong to Poetry, detailed descriptions of battles that not a single person is given to know about, but if they can object to me here, then neither the great kings nor the generals ever uttered those lengthy the speeches that are put into their mouths.

Neither a philosopher nor a historiographer, of course, would have been able to enter the gates of popular judgment in those ancient times if they had not had a powerful key - Poetry, which even now is easy to discover among those peoples in whom science has not yet flourished, but they have already learned Poetry.

In Turkey, with the exception of legislators and theologians, there are no other writers other than poets. In our neighboring Ireland, where real learning is scarce, poets are treated with reverent respect. Even the most barbaric and ignorant Indians, who do not yet know writing, have poets, and they compose and sing songs - areytos - about the deeds of their ancestors and the mercy of the gods. It is possible that education will come to them, but after the tender delights of Poetry soften and refine their clumsy minds, for until they find pleasure in mental exercises, no great promises will convince them, who have not known the fruits of knowledge. Reliable sources say that in Wales, the land of the ancient Britons, there were poets in the distant past and there they were called bards; they survived all the invasions of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, who sought to destroy even the very memory of knowledge, and are alive to this day. The early birth of Poetry is no more remarkable than its long life.

Portrait of Sir Philip Sidney
brushes by an unknown artist (18th century copy of an original dating from c. 1576)

Sir Philip Sidney [Sir Philip Sidney; 30.11.1554, Penshurst Place, Kent - 17.10.1586, Arnhem, Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands] - courtier, statesman, warrior, poet and patron of scientists and poets, was considered the ideal gentleman of his time. In history English literature he remained a threefold innovator - in the field of poetry, prose and literary theory. Apart from Shakespeare's sonnets, Sidney's Astrophil and Stella cycle is considered the finest sonnet cycle of the Elizabethan era, and Sidney's Defense of Poetry embodied the critical ideas of Renaissance theorists as applied to England.

Philip Sidney was the eldest son Sir Henry Sidney And Lady Mary Dudley, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, godfather it was Spanish itself King Philip II. After accession Elizabeth to the throne, his father was appointed Lord President of Wales (and later three times appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), and his uncle, Robert Dudley, received the title of Earl of Leicester and became the Queen's most trusted advisor. Of course, with such relatives, young Sidney was destined for a career as a statesman, diplomat and warrior. At the age of 10, he entered the most progressive school at the time in Shrewsbury, where his classmate was a poet Fulk Greville(later official at court Elizabeth), who became his lifelong friend and first biographer. From February 1568 to 1571, he completed a three-year course of study at Oxford, and later traveled throughout Europe (from May 1572 to June 1575), improving his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. He was an eyewitness to the tragic Night of St. Bartholomew, also acquired direct knowledge of European politics and became acquainted with many leading statesmen of Europe. His first appointment at court (in 1576) was the position of royal cupbearer, which he inherited from his father, not lucrative but honorable. In February 1577, at the age of only 22, he was sent as ambassador to the German Emperor Rudolf II and the Count Palatine Louis VI to express condolences queen elizabeth on the occasion of the death of their fathers. Along with this formal task he is entrusted with sounding out the attitude of the German princes to the formation of an all-European Protestant League (this was the main political goal of England - by uniting other Protestant states in Europe to balance the threatening power of Roman Catholic Spain). Sidney returned with an enthusiastic report on the prospects of forming such a league, but the cautious queen sent other emissaries to check his report, and they returned with less optimistic views about the reliability of the German princes as allies. Sidney received his next responsible official appointment only eight years later. Nevertheless, he continued to engage in politics and diplomacy. In 1579 he wrote a confidential letter to the Queen objecting to her engagement to Duke of Anjou, Roman Catholic heir to the French throne. In addition, Sidney was Member of Parliament for Kent in 1581 and 1584-1585. He corresponded with foreign statesmen and entertained important guests. Sidney was one of the few English contemporaries to take an interest in the recent discoveries in America, and supported the navigator's research Sir Martin Frobisher. Later he became interested in the organization's project Sir Walter Raleigh American colony in Virginia and even intended to go on a campaign against the Spaniards together with Sir Francis Drake. He had diverse scientific and artistic interests, he discussed issues of art with the painter Nicholas Hillard and chemistry problems with a scientist John Dee, was a great patron of scientists and writers. More than 40 works by English and European authors were dedicated to him - works on theology, ancient and modern history, geography, military science, jurisprudence, logic, medicine and poetry, which indicates the breadth of his interests. Among the many poets and prose writers who sought his patronage were Edmund Spencer, Thomas Watson, Abraham Fraunce And Thomas Lodge. Sidney was an excellent horseman and became famous for his participation in tournaments, partly sporting competitions and partly symbolic performances, which were the main entertainment of the court. He longed for life full of dangers, but his official activities were largely ceremonial - serving the queen at court and accompanying her on trips around the country. In January 1583 he was knighted, not for any outstanding services, but to give him the right to replace his friend, Prince Casimir, who was due to receive the Order of the Garter but could not attend the ceremony. In September he married Francisca, daughter of Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham. They had one daughter, Elizabeth. Since the queen did not provide him with a responsible position, he turned to literature in search of an outlet for his energy. In 1580 he completed the heroic novel in prose "Arcadia". It is characteristic that with aristocratic nonchalance he called it “a trifle,” while the novel is a narrative with an intricate plot, consisting of 180,000 words. At the beginning of 1581 his aunt, Countess of Huntingdon, brought her niece to the court Penelope Devereux, who at the end of the year married a young man Lord Rich. Sidney fell in love with her and in the summer of 1582 he composed a series of sonnets “Astrophil and Stella” about the love of the young courtier Astrophil for the married lady Stella, describing the love that unexpectedly overtook him, his struggle with it and the final renunciation of love in the name of the “high goal” of serving society . These sonnets, witty and full of passion, became an outstanding phenomenon of Elizabethan poetry.

Penelope Devereux, sister of Elizabeth's favorite Earl of Essex, was an extraordinary person. She was very beautiful, educated, spoke French, Italian and Spanish languages, participated in court performances. Penelope's marriage to Earl Rich was not happy, and, having given birth to her husband four children, she around 1588-1589. became a mistress Sir Charles Blount. Having received a divorce in 1605, she married Blount (by this time she and he had four children). The new marriage turned out to be short-lived - Blount soon died, and after him, in 1607, Penelope died.

But let's go back to 1582. Around this time, Sidney also wrote “Defense of Poetry” - the philosophical and aesthetic credo of the creators of the new English poetry, an eloquent proof of the social value of creativity, which remains the finest achievement of Elizabethan literary criticism. In 1584, he began to radically rework his Arcadia, turning a straightforward plot into a multi-dimensional narrative. The novel remained only half finished, but even in this form it remains the most important prose work of the 16th century in the English language. He also wrote a number of other poems and later began translating the Psalms. He wrote for his own amusement and for the amusement of close friends; With a disdain for commerce typical of aristocratic views, he did not allow his works to be published during his lifetime. A revised version of the Arcadia was not printed in complete form until 1590; in 1593, a new edition added the last three books in the original version (the full text of the original version remained in manuscript until 1926).

Astrophil and Stella was published in a distorted version in 1591, the Defense of Poetry in 1595, and the collected works in 1598 (it was reprinted in 1599 and nine times during the 17th century).

In July 1585, Sidney received the long-awaited appointment. He and his uncle Earl of Warwick, was appointed head of the department that provided military supplies in the Kingdom. In November the Queen was finally persuaded to help Holland against the Spanish invaders by sending them troops led by Earl of Leicester. Sidney was appointed governor of Flushing and given command of a troop of cavalry. The next 11 months were spent on ineffective campaigns against the Spanish, and Sidney found it difficult to maintain the morale of his poorly paid troops. He wrote to his father-in-law that if the queen did not pay the soldiers, she would lose her garrisons, but as for himself, love for the goal would never allow him to tire of trying to achieve it, because “a wise and faithful man should never be upset if he does the right thing.” own duty, although others do not fulfill it.”

On September 22, 1586, Sidney volunteered to participate in an operation to prevent the Spanish from delivering food to the city of Zutphen. The transport was guarded by large forces that outnumbered the British, but Sidney broke through enemy lines three times, and with his thigh shattered by a bullet, he left the battlefield on his own. He was taken to Arnhem, the wound became inflamed, and he prepared for his inevitable death. In his last hours he admitted that he had not been able to get rid of his love for Lady Rich, but now joy and peace are returning to him.

Sidney was buried in St. Paul in London on February 16, 1587, with the honors usually accorded to very distinguished aristocrats. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge and European scholars produced memorial editions in his honor, and almost every English poet wrote poetry in his memory. He deserved these honors, although he did not accomplish any outstanding government affairs - one can write a history of the political and military events of the time of Elizabeth, limiting oneself to just mentioning his name. His ideal image evoked admiration.

Op.: A Defense of Poesie and Poems. L.: Cassell and Company, 1891; The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910; Shelley's Poetry and Prose: A Norton Critical Edition. 2nd ed. /Ed. by D. H. Reiman, N. Fraistat. N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002; in Russian lane - Astrophil and Stella. Defense of poetry. M.: Nauka, 1982. (Literary monuments); Stanzas of the century-2. Anthology of world poetry in Russian translations of the 20th century / Under. ed. E. Vitkovsky. M.: Polifact, 1998. (Results of the century. A view from Russia).

Lit.: Greville F. Life of the Renowned Sir Philip Sidney. L., 1652; Kimbrough R. Sir Philip Sidney. N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971; Sidney: the Critical Heritage/Ed. by M. Garrett L.: Routledge, 1996; Motsohein B.I. Who is this gentleman? (Conversations about William Shakespeare, his era and contemporaries, his earthly fate and immortal glory, the fascinating mysteries of his biography and their inventive solutions). M.: Fuel and Energy, 2001. P. 204-207; Gavin A. Writing after Sidney: the Literary Response to Sir Philip Sidney 1586-1640. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006; Khaltrin-Khalturina E.V. Anthology of poetic forms in Philip Sidney’s “Old Arcadia”: under the sign of the confrontation between Apollo and Cupid // Verse and prose in European literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance / Rep. ed. L. V. Evdokimova; Institute of World Lit. them. A. M. Gorky RAS. M.: Nauka, 2006. pp. 117-136.

Bibliographer. description: Motsohein B.I. Sir Philip Sidney [Electronic resource] // Information and research database “Shakespeare’s Contemporaries”. URL: .

From the novel "Arcadia"

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
Where the mind is freed from the snares
And strives for good and truth;
Where the heavenly hosts appear before the eyes of the host,
And the image of the Creator appears in my thoughts,
Where the throne of Contemplation is located,
Eagle-eyed, hope-winged;
It flies to the stars, with all of Nature underneath it.
You are like a king in undisturbed peace,
Wise thoughts flock to you,
The voices of birds bring you harmony,
They erect fortifications using wood;
If there is peace inside, the outside will not approach.

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
There is no traitor here under the guise of friendship,
Not behind the back of a hissing envious man,
Not an intriguer with poisonous flattery,
Not an arrogant, intricate jester,
Nor the debt stranglehold of a benefactor,
No chatter - the nurse of ignorance,
Neither toady, scratchers of vanity;
Empty honors will not lure us here,
The shackles of gold will not blind your eyes;
We haven’t heard about malice here, about slander,
If there is no sin in you, sin has not walked here.
Who would believe a lie to a tree?

O dear forest, shelter of solitude!
How I love your privacy!
But if the soul were in a bodily building,
Beautiful and tender like a lily,
Whose voice is a shame to canaries,
Whose shadow is a refuge in any danger,
Whose wisdom is heard in every quiet word,
Whose virtue together with innocence
Confuses even the usual gossip,
Disarms the sting of envy,
Oh, if only we could meet such a soul,
That I also loved loneliness,
How joyfully we would greet her.
Oh dear forest! She wouldn't destroy it -
Decorated your privacy.

From "Astrophil and Stella"

Not a short shot on the spot

Not a short shot on the spot
Cupid achieved victory over me:
Like a cunning enemy, he dug under the walls
And quietly the city fell asleep.

I saw, but still did not understand,
Already loved, but tried to hide love,
Succumbed, but not yet submitted,
And, having submitted, he still grumbled.

Now I have lost this will too,
But, like a Muscovite born in slavery,
I praise tyranny and cherish patience,
Kissing the hand with which he was beaten;

And I bring her fantasy flowers,
Like some kind of paradise, depicting your hell.

How slowly you rise, languid month

How slowly you rise, languid month,
To the sky, with what longing in the eyes!
Oh, is it really there, in heaven,
Is the irrepressible archer tyrannizing hearts?

Alas, I myself suffered from the treacherous
I know why you're all wasted away,
Like in a book, I read in your features
A story of love, painful and dark.

O pale Moon, my poor brother!
Answer me, do they really consider loyalty there?
For a whim - and they want worship,
But the worshipers are despised?

Are there really beauties there as well as here?
Is ingratitude called pride?

Oh Stella! my life, my light and heat

Oh Stella! my life, my light and heat,
The only sun in the sky
An unquenchable ray, an unquenchable ardor,
Sweet nectar of eyes and eyes!

Why are you wasting your gift of eloquence?
Sovereign as Amphion's harp,
To extinguish the fire of love lit
In my soul is it your power of enchantment?

When good words come from sweet lips
They appear like precious pearls,
What is appropriate for virtue to wear,

I listen, barely touched by their meaning,
And I think: “What happiness - this
It’s a lovely virtue to possess!”

Do I mean less to you?

Do I mean less to you?
What is your favorite pug? I promise
That I am no worse suited to please, -
Give me whatever task you want.

Try my dog's devotion:
Tell me to wait - I'll turn to stone,
Bring a glove - I’ll rush headlong
And I’ll bring my soul in my teeth to boot.

Alas! to me - negligence, but to him
You lavish affection tenderly,
Kiss on the nose; you, apparently,
She is favorable only to unreasonable creatures.

Well - let's wait until love itself
Will deprive me of my last mind.

Song five

When your gaze gave me hope,
With hope - delight, with delight - fervor of thoughts,
My tongue and pen are animated by you.
I thought: without you my words are empty,
I thought: there is darkness everywhere, where you don’t shine,
Those who came into the world came to serve you.

I said that you are a hundred times more beautiful than everyone else,
You are a balm for the eyes, a sweet poison for the heart,
That your fingers are like Cupid's arrows,
That the eyes eclipsed the sky with brightness,
That Percy is the Milky Way, speech is the music of the heights,
And that my love is like an ocean, bottomless.

Now there is no hope, your delight has been killed,
But the ardor still lives, although, having changed its appearance,
He, turning into rage, controls the soul.
From praises the speech turned to reproaches,
There is now abuse heard, where praise was heard;
The key that locked the chest also unlocks it.

You, who were hitherto a collection of perfections,
Mirror of beauty, abode of bliss
And the justification of all, without memory of lovers,
Look: your wings are dragging in the dust,
Infamy clouds clouded the azure
Your deaf heavens, burdened with guilt.

O Muse! you, cherishing her on your chest,
She fed me with ambrosia - look,
What did she use your gifts for?
Having despised me, she neglected you,
Don't let her laugh! - after all, having insulted the ambassador,
Thus, the Lady was offended.

Can you really bear it when your honor is harmed?
Blow, trumpet, collect! Revenge, my Muse, revenge!
Strike the enemy quickly, do not turn away the blow!
Boiling water is already bubbling in my chest;
Oh Stella, get the lesson you deserve:
For the truthful - an honest world, for deceit - an evil punishment.

Don't wait for old speeches about the whiteness of snow,
About the modesty of lilies, the shades of pearls,
About the curls of the seas in a radiant radiance, -
But about your soul, where the word and the truth are apart,
Ingratitude soaked through and through.
There is no worse evil in the world than being ungrateful!

No, there is something worse: you are a thief! I'm ready to swear.
Thief, Lord forgive me! And the worst of thieves!
A thief steals out of need, in immense despair,
And you, having everything, take the last,
You steal all my joys from me.
It is a sin to harm enemies, let alone faithful servants.

But a noble thief will not kill
And choose new hearts for the victim.
And on your forehead burns the mark of a murderer.
The scars of my deep wounds are bleeding,
They were caused by your cruelty and deceit, -
So you decided to pay for your loyalty.

What a killer's role! There are many clues
Other outrageous deeds (of which there are many),
To accuse you of damned tyranny.
I was lawlessly enslaved by you,
Surrendered into slavery, doomed to torture without trial!
The king, having despised the truth, becomes a Tyrant.

Oh, you're proud of this! You consider yourself a ruler!
So I will accuse you of vile rebellion!
Yes, in obvious rebellion (Nature is my witness):
You blossomed so tenderly in the Principality of Love,
So what? - raised a rebellion against Love!
What is virtue worth with the stain of betrayal?

But even though rebels are sometimes praised,
Know: you will forever bear the stamp of shame.
Having betrayed Cupid and hidden from Venus
(At least you keep the signs of Venus on yourself),
It’s in vain that you’ll run to Diana now! -
The one who betrayed once will no longer have faith.

Is this not enough? Add blackness?
You are a Witch, I swear! Even though you look like an angel;
However, it’s not about witchcraft, it’s about beauty.
From your spell I became paler than a dead man,
There is a cast-iron weight in my feet, the coldness of lead in my heart,
My mind and flesh are all numb.

But witches are sometimes given the opportunity to repent.
Alas! I am destined to tell the worst:
You are the devil, I say, in the robes of a seraphim.
Your face tells me to renounce God's gates,
Refusal plunges me into hell and burns my soul,
You crafty Devil, irresistible temptation!

And you, robber, evil murderer, you,
Fierce tyrant, fiend of darkness,
Traitor, demon, you are still loved by me.
What else can I say? - when in my words
When you reconcile, you will find so many feelings alive,
That all my blasphemies will turn out to be praise.

From "Miscellaneous Poems"

Parting

I understood, although not immediately and not suddenly,
Why do they say about the dead: “Gone”?
This sound seemed too sluggish,
To denote the worst of evils;

When did the stars become cruel
Pointed a bow at my chest of separation,
I realized that a mortal was frightened,
What does this short verb mean?

I still walk, I say words,
And the firmament did not collapse to the ground,
But the joy that lived in the soul is dead,
Because separation from my dear one means death.

No, worse! death will destroy everything at once,
And this one destroys happiness and prolongs torment.

Nanny beauty
To the tune of Baciami vita mia

Desire, sleep! Sleep, dear child!
So Nanny Beauty sings, rocking.
- Love, you wake me up by putting me to sleep!

Sleep, my baby, without whining or whining!
I'm tired of you, you slut.
- Alas, you wake me up by putting me to sleep!

Sleep, go to sleep! What, child, is the matter with you?
I’ll hold you to my chest... Well, bye-bye!
- No! - cries. - I can’t sleep at all!

Disastrous joy

disastrous joy,
My living flour
You force my gaze
Strive for the burning rays.

From the beauty of heaven,
From blinding purity
The mind has retreated into confusion,
Feelings were taken captive,

Joyfully they surrendered into captivity,
Having unprotected the heart,
Taking my life away;

They went to the suns radiant,
To the flame where they died
The most beautiful death, -

Like Sylvan, who
Fell in love with a bright fire,
Meeting him for the first time.

But, Lady, their lives
In death you saved
You, in whom love is imperishable;

My feeling died
I myself died without feeling,
Yet in you we are alive.

I'm transformed forever
In the color that turns the head
Behind you, my sun.

If I fall, I will rise,
If I die, I will rise again,
In the change of faces - unchanged.

There is no life for me without you,
My feelings are with you,
My thoughts are with you,
What I am looking for is only in you.
All that is in me is you alone.

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

O.V. Dmitrieva

The legality of using the term “ cult figure"to an era that knew no means mass communication, of course, can be questioned. However, if this concept is an anachronism for the 16th century, then the same cannot be said about the very phenomenon of collective obsession with a certain person and turning him into an object of immoderate admiration and worship. From this point of view, F. Sidney (1554-1586) can undoubtedly be classified as a “cult figure” due to the unique place he occupied in public opinion Elizabethan era. No one else, being just a private person, enjoyed such boundless moral authority and (if not sincere, then at least widely declared) love of his contemporaries, representing the most diverse social, professional and intellectual strata. He was equally idolized by courtiers, professional soldiers, scientists, writers and poets, statesmen and Protestant theologians both in England and on the Continent. They compared themselves and others with Sidney as a standard, assessing their qualities and actions. The motif of Sir Philip’s “exemplaryness”, of him as a kind of “model” or “mirror” sounded very persistently in memoirs, correspondence, and literature of the 16th century.

This idea was developed many times and in different ways by Sidney’s first biographer and his childhood friend Fulk Gravil, comparing him to a “signal fire” or “beacon” English nation, "rising above our native shore higher than any private Pharos lighthouse in foreign lands, so that along the exact line of their own meridian they learn to sail through the straits of true valor into the calm and wide ocean of human honor." “It is an honor to imitate or tread in the footsteps of such a man,” he proclaims, admitting that he himself strives to “sail according to his compass.” Sidney, he says, is "a man [who is good] for any field - for conquest, colonization, Reformation, whatever is considered most worthy and difficult among men, and yet he is so humane and committed to virtue."

Sidney's father, Sir Henry, wrote younger brother Philip: “Imitate his virtues, exercises, studies and actions. He is a rare ornament of this age, the formula according to which all the young gentlemen of our court, inclined to goodness, develop their manners and build their lives.” This passage could easily be attributed to paternal vanity, if not for the many consonant statements made by disinterested persons. The famous London chronicler J. Stow, for example, argued that Sidney “was a true example of dignity,” and W. Camden believed that few in England could compare with him in manners and command of foreign languages.

Proof of sincere admiration for Sir Philip is the fact that at least two people, when writing their own epitaphs, noted closeness with him as the most important fact of their biography, i.e. essentially identified themselves through it. The aforementioned F. Graville ordered to carve on his tombstone: “Friend of Philip Sidney,” and Oxford professor Thomas Thornton: “Mentor of Sir Philip Sidney, that noble knight when he was at Christ Church.”

The formation of the legend about Sidney, the perfect gentleman, began during his lifetime, when he was still young and did not manage to do anything outstanding in the public field. The nature of everyone’s fascination with him at this time is difficult to explain. And yet even the Jesuit T. Campion, who met him in Prague, noted that “this young man is so amazingly loved and revered by his compatriots.” As for the allies in the Protestant camp, their characteristics were even more flattering. F. Othman called Sidney “the favorite of the entire human race.”

When Sidney died fighting for the Protestant cause in the Netherlands, the mourning of him as the “first knight” of England acquired a truly national scale. His body was transported home with all possible honors and solemnly buried in St. Paul's Cathedral - a rare honor bestowed on a man of such rank who was neither a major military leader nor statesman. According to contemporaries, the funeral procession moved with difficulty through the streets of London, filled with many mourners, shouting: “Farewell, worthy knight, beloved friend of all, who had no enemies except by chance.” Let us note that the text is unreliable in the mouth of the crowd, which, however, does not cast doubt on the presence of the crowd itself, mourning the hero.

The court plunged into an unusually long period of mourning; for several months it was considered indecent to appear in the palace in light clothes. Since the court, as a rare gathering of ambitious people, is hardly characterized by sincere grief over the loss of one of their number, one can see in prolonged mourning a demonstration of behavior considered appropriate to the circumstances. It is all the more curious that the courtiers considered it necessary to mourn Sidney so thoroughly, paying tribute to his reputation as “the first among English gentlemen.”

One of Philip Sidney's protégés, the poet Nicholas Bretton, in a mournful elegy painted a picture of truly universal grief over the grave of his patron, in front of which the queen herself, scientists, military men, peers of the kingdom, townspeople and even foreigners, apparently Protestants, passed in tears, , Bretton also had in mind the representatives of the Catholic powers, for he conveyed their lamentation in Italian:

With all the reservations about the exaggerated portrayal of emotions associated with Sidney's death in memorial poetry, many did experience it as a personal loss, realizing that England had lost one of the most gifted gentlemen - a promising politician, a sincere Protestant, a patriot and a talented poet.

Death became the central event of his life and, according to the bitter but fair remark of one modern researcher, “the peak of his career.” After it, the myth about Sir Philip began to form with extraordinary speed: within a few years, an extensive tradition arose dedicated to him and represented by works of various genres: memoirs, odes, elegies, poetic epitaphs, the authors of which were the best poets of that time - W. Reilly, E. Spencer, J. Peel, N. Bretton, E. Dyar and others.

Thus, already in the 80-90s, Sidney became an object of understanding in the culture of his era. Leaving outside the scope of this study the question of how much the poeticized image of the “first knight” corresponded to reality, let us focus on the myth of Sidney itself, its main components, their internal hierarchy and possible evolution, since it is obvious that society intuitively and completely unconditionally saw its own in it ideal; therefore, by realizing what exactly appealed to his contemporaries about him, we will be able to come closer to understanding the system of ethical values of Elizabethan society.

The myth of Sidney was created by very educated people; It is not surprising that it clearly shows the elements of the ancient canon of biography, according to which the outstanding qualities of the future hero are emphasized, which already in infancy indicated his high destiny. One of the memoirists, Dr. Thomas Moffett, for example, seriously argued that Sidney was born with “a charming and beautiful appearance and with a build designed for military service ... with a loud, almost masculine voice and, finally, with a beautiful, defined and absolute perfection of body and soul." Apparently, he was not the only one who wrote in this way, as indicated by S. Gentili’s remark about those who attribute to Sidney “genius already in childhood.”

One of the main moral virtues of young Philip is invariably called seriousness, wisdom and prudence, rare in youth. F. Gravil states that, although he had been his friend since childhood, “he did not know him other than as a man... who showed nobility and dignity, not characteristic of even more mature years.” In the portrayal of his friend and biographer, Sidney constantly thought and spoke only about study and knowledge, rejecting empty games, and he studied so successfully that his mentors had a lot to learn from him. He is echoed by L. Briskett, who characterizes Sidney with the words Cicero said to Scipio Africanus: “Maturity came to him earlier than years.”

This property of it is very elegantly emphasized by Ben Jonson in a poem dedicated to Edward Sackville, where he argues that

A person can turn out to be great by chance,
But it is impossible to become kind by accident.
The one who was not him in the morning will not be Sidney by the evening,
Just as a fool will not wake up in the morning the smartest in the Christian world.

Thus, the name Sidney becomes a household name, synonymous with kindness itself.

Another great Elizabethan, the artist N. Hilliard, remembering Sidney, noted primarily this same quality; for him, Sir Philip is, first of all, an “excellent man,” and only then a valiant knight, scientist and poet.

Panegyrists thus see in Sidney the focus of all the moral virtues that were so highly valued in circles involved in humanistic culture. And yet, with even greater insistence, contemporaries extolled in him qualities that can rightfully be attributed to the “class virtues”, dating back to the late medieval knightly epic. The image in which he is mainly perceived and presented to the reading public is that of a knight in shining armor, a noble English nobleman who eclipsed all the Orlandos and Bayards on the battlefield.

The era, of course, has made its own adjustments to the interpretation of the image of the ideal knight: Sidney in this role appears as a sophisticated young courtier, a perfect disciple of Castiglione, a man of honor, a duelist, a brilliant tournament fighter, a gallant interlocutor and a poet who, as befits a gentleman, is in love with the beautiful lady - the mysterious Stella of his sonnets. In a word, he is the personification of the ideal of the neo-courtly age. He is called “the knight of Pallas, who had no equal”; the poet J. Peel calls Sidney “the noblest flower among all that can be found from East to West,” and Edmund Spenser awards him the title of “the first in nobility and chivalry.” After the death of Sir Philip, tribute was repeatedly paid to his memory as the most glorious of the English nobles at knightly tournaments.

The courtly ideal, in turn, experienced a transformation in the Elizabethan era under the influence of the Reformation and the intensification of the confessional struggle, inextricably linked with the defense of the national independence of England. Panegyrists consider it their duty to emphasize that Sidney is not just a gallant gentleman or “a carpet knight whose virtues consist of a rich suit and skillful chatter.” He is a true soldier, patriot and zealous Protestant, i.e. a truly Christian knight, in whose image civic virtues coexist with a religious idea.

Poets liked to imagine Sidney as a knight-shepherd (in this outfit he once appeared at a knightly tournament, earning the nickname “the first knight among shepherdesses and the first shepherdess among knights”). The style of this image can be misleading, causing associations with cutesy, mannered characters in pastoral literature. However, an analysis of Elizabethan allegorical poetry, Neoplatonic in spirit, forces us to look for a deeper meaning in it. In the minds of Sidney himself, Edmund Spenser and their readers, the knight-shepherd evoked allusions to the Good Shepherd, Christ, the bearer of the true faith. Sidney, in the role of a knight-shepherd, was perceived as the guardian of English Arcadia, the guardian of a peaceful country from Catholic enemies, as J. Peel explicitly writes: “Sidney, incomparable... who kept vigil and vigil to drive away the evil wolf from Eliza’s gates.”

Sidney's sincere commitment to Protestantism, his efforts to create a Protestant League in Europe and his bold criticism of the plans for the Anglo-French alliance were appreciated by his contemporaries. F. Gravil wrote that his friend made the faith he professed the basis of his life; the main thing for him was “not friends or wife, children or himself, above all this he valued the honor of the Supreme Creator and service to the empress and the country.” The picture of his glorious death in the name of these ideals logically completed the portrait of Sidney the patriot, citizen and Christian martyr. This idea was accurately expressed by Sir Philip's friend, Arthur Golding: “He died not languishing from idleness or participating in rebellion ... and not from being numb in pleasure and pleasant idleness, but from the wounds of a man received in the service of his sovereign, in defense of the oppressed, establishing the only truly catholic Christian religion, among noble, valiant and wise men, in the open field, like a true warrior - with the most glorious death that only a Christian knight can desire.”

The sad story of Sydney's tragic death from a wound received during the siege of the small Dutch town of Zutphen occupies special place in Sydney. The story of his short career as a military leader (he was assigned to command a detachment in the expeditionary force of the Earl of Leicester) allows biographers to return to the ancient canon of biography: in his memoirs, Fulk Gravil, apparently influenced by Xenophon or Roman authors, portrays Sidney as a wise and caring commander who carries out reasonable changes in the army. In the absence of more significant examples of Sir Philip's activity in this area, he is forced to refer to the fact that he "resurrected the ancient discipline of order and silence on the march." In the first battle in his life near the town of Axel, Sidney, as befits a hero, addresses the soldiers with a fiery speech, which, according to the chronicler J. Stow (who was not present there), “so tuned and united the people that they dreamed of dying sooner, carrying out this service than to live” - a passage, also, apparently, inspired by ancient models, and not by the real mood in the English corps of Leicester, where the soldiers constantly grumbled about the officers and because of non-payment of salaries.

On the fateful day of the second - and last for Sidney - battle, a large detachment of Spaniards tried to break through to the besieged Zutphen, but the British, significantly inferior in numbers, managed to disperse the enemy. In the skirmish, Sidney showed himself to be a real brave man, however, having imprudently approached the fortress, he was wounded by a musket shot in the leg, and his faithful horse carried him, fainting from loss of blood, to the English camp. The wounded man behaved courageously: a strong impression on his compatriots, who later read memoirs about his last days, was made by the fact that Sidney, suffering from thirst, gave the flask intended for him to a simple soldier dying nearby.

Much discussion was devoted to the unfortunate cause of his injury - the lack of leggings and legguards. Particularly interesting is the story of F. Gravil, who was not an eyewitness to the events, but acted only as an interpreter of what he heard from direct witnesses (however, an interpreter who claimed to know Sidney like himself and understands better than others what motivated him). In his interpretation, Sidney carries out his actions, constantly checking with a certain ancient model of behavior: “Remembering that in ancient legends ... the worthy man is always the best armed ... he put on full armor,” however, noting that on his comrade in arms does not have a legguard and leggings, he decided to follow his example, wanting to be on an equal footing with him (according to another version, in order to demonstrate in this way his disregard for danger). The qualities displayed by Sir Philip in both episodes - wise foresight and reckless bravado - although contradictory, characterize him in Gravil's memoirs as a true hero and an impeccable knight. Note that eyewitnesses also expressed a more prosaic version of what happened (they assumed that due to the sudden attack of the Spaniards, Sidney simply did not have time to put on full armor), but it, of course, was not accepted by the panegyric literary tradition.

Narrating the 16-day agony of a wounded man who developed gangrene, Gravil paints him as a true stoic. He prefers to call the friends, doctors and Protestant theologians present near Sidney “divine philosophers” with whom Sir Philip had conversations about the immortality of the soul and the views of ancient authors on this subject. Music sounded in his tent, in particular, written, according to legend, by Sidney himself, a ballad about a wound received in the thigh. Friends and family held back tears, emulating the dying man's stoicism. The memories of eyewitnesses, on which Gravil relied, allow us to talk about Sidney’s mental suffering, his fear and doubts about his posthumous fate, his renunciation of the written poems and feelings for his mysterious lover. Nevertheless, philosophical conversations did take place, as did correspondence with a friend about a new translation of Plato, and Graville prefers to emphasize this heroic-Stoicist line in Sidney's behavior. With his light hand, she became dominant in the legend of the first knight of England.

Another motif that is certainly present in the literary tradition dedicated to Sidney is the glorification of his learning and love of science, which distinguished him even from the background of highly educated contemporaries. And in this area he serves as a model for the nobility, as F. Graville insists: “Many superbly educated gentlemen among us will not deny that they strive to row and follow the course in his wake.” Sidney, of course, was not a great scientist, but he did have a serious interest in science; his circle of friends included famous scientists John Dee and Bruno, who dedicated his treatise “On Heroic Enthusiasm” to him, the French thinker lawyer Hubert Lange, the Ramist philosopher William Temple and others. According to his memoirs, “rarely in church or in a public meeting he was not surrounded learned men." Sidney himself is constantly praised as a "learned warrior" or "learned knight". In his "Shepherd's Calendar" E. Spencer speaks of him as "a gentleman worthy of any titles both in science and in courtship."

F. Sidney was interested in philosophy and, although his Greek was imperfect, he read Plato and Aristotle. He was an adherent of the anti-Aristotelian tradition and an admirer of Ramism, but at the same time retained independence of judgment, noticing the weaknesses of Stagirite’s opponents, as T. Moffett wrote: “How many errors he noticed in Aristotle, how many in Plato, Plotinus and other authors, who wrote about natural philosophy." Among Sidney’s merits, contemporaries noted not only his reverence for the learning of the ancients, but also his attention to modern scientific theories: “... while he highly valued the first keepers of knowledge, he did not reject the new out of respect for antiquity.”

A separate reason for praise for Sidney was his excellent command of ancient and modern languages - Latin, Greek, Italian and French - which ensured his success both at English and at foreign courts. The French and Italians were amazed by the elegance of the style with which he expressed himself, along with the depth of judgment and wit.

Ben Jonson recalls Sidney's reputation as a man of the highest education in an ode addressed to his nephew, giving the young man urgent advice to study, bearing in mind whose name he bears and what hopes those around him will place in him.

Another feature that evoked enthusiastic reviews of Sir Philip was his generous philanthropy and patronage, qualities especially valued by the ever-needy representatives of both the “liberal” and other arts. Despite the fact that he was not rich, Sidney patronized many poets, writers, and translators, among whom were such famous personalities as W. Camden, E. Spencer, T. Nash, N. Bretton, etc. According to Graville, “there was no such a talented painter, skillful engineer, excellent musician or other skilled craftsman of outstanding reputation, who, being known to this glorious spirit (i.e. Sidney - O.D.), would not have found in him a sincere and completely disinterested friend. Like Zephyr, “he breathed life wherever he breathed,” “universities abroad and at home spoke of him as a Maecenas, dedicated their works to him and discussed with him every invention or increment of knowledge.” Many writers gratefully recalled his support: E. Spencer admitted that “it was Sidney who made his Muse soar above the earth,” and Thomas Nash appealed to him in a speech, lamenting that with Sidney’s departure there was no longer anyone in England to nurture talents . “Noble Sir Philip Sidney! You were knowledgeable in what befits a scientist, you knew at the cost of what suffering, torment and labor perfection is achieved. And you knew how to encourage every talent in your own way, give every mind its due, give every writer his due, because there was no one more valiant, witty or learned than you. But you rested in your grave and left us too few heirs of your glory; There are too few of those who value the sons of the muses and with their generosity water those hopes that bloom like buds, which were nurtured thanks to your generosity.”

The image of Sidney as a patron of the arts and sciences is played out in a curious way in a poem called Sir Philip Sidney's Urania (1637), written by one of his former teachers at Oxford, Nathaniel Baxter. The latter imagines a picture of his own death and appearance in the world of shadows, where he is greeted by the spirit of Sidney, asking who he is. Baxter responds that he “once was the mentor of the great Astrophil,” and is now naked and miserable, and all his possessions consist of a staff and a Greek pipe. To his joy, Sidney recognizes the professor and entrusts him to Cynthia’s care: “Dearest sister, take care of my mentor, for in his subject he was inimitable.” Thus, even in Elysium, Sidney is given the role that is so familiar to everyone that he played in life - a trustee and patron.

Taking into account the care with which each of F. Sidney’s virtues was comprehended and played out in the posthumous literature about him, one cannot help but notice that she paid undeservedly little attention to his own poetic gift, and if his descendants perceive him primarily as a great poet, then to his contemporaries this did not seem to be the main thing. There were many reasons for this. The first was that the circle of people aware that Sidney wrote poetry was quite narrow, although it is believed that he began to practice versification, apparently, during his university years. This circle included several dozen people: close friends, members of the poetic circle called “Areopagus” (E. Dyar, G. Harvey, F. Graville, D. Rogers. E. Spencer); relatives: the Earl of Leicester (who exploited his poetic gift for political purposes), sister Mary (Countess of Pembroke), the queen and courtiers. For the latter, however, his talent probably seemed something ordinary, since educated people of his circle certainly practiced poetry. It was not possible to assess the scale of Sidney’s talent, which distinguished him from other amateurs, since none of his works were published during his lifetime.

In addition, one should take into account the condescending attitude towards poetry characteristic of the aristocratic environment; it could only be regarded as a gentleman's hobby, but not at all as a serious occupation for him. Sidney himself, as they prove modern research, who worked very carefully on the finishing of his poems, was nevertheless inclined to portray them as “trinkets,” the modest fruits of random leisure. He even called his treatise “Defense of Poetry” a fun or toy that required a lot of ink, maintaining, in accordance with fashion, the illusion of lightness in relation to his opuses.

In the same vein, unwittingly belittling the dignity of writing (but not Sidney’s talent), F. Graville says about his works: “His books were more like pamphlets, sketched out to occupy time and entertain friends.” Of course, Sidney was praised as a poet, but at first these were only sporadic references, like one line in E. Spencer's "The Funeral Song of Colin Clout", where only Astrophil's name serves as a reference to his sonnets. The poetic gift is seen as something that complements the other advantages of this multifaceted nature, most often his heroism and valor. There are many examples of this kind. J. Whetstone, for example, wrote:

Around his helmet is a laurel wreath,
And next to the sword is a silver feather.

W. Reilly called Sidney both “the Scipio and the Petrarch of our time,” but in both cases the “sword” precedes the “pen,” and Scipio relegates Petrarch to the background. During Sidney’s lifetime, perhaps only S. Gentili pointed to poetry as the main field of the young English aristocrat: “Others admire in you, Philip Sidney, the brilliance of your birth, the genius already in childhood, the ability for any philosophy, the honorable embassy undertaken in youth , and displays of valor... during public spectacles and exercises on horseback... Let others glorify all these qualities. I not only admire, but love and honor you because you respect poetry enough to reach heights in it.”

Over the years, especially as Sidney's works appeared, the injustice of belittling his literary talent was realized more and more clearly by both English and foreign authors. Understanding true scale His talent and contribution to the development of the English language and poetry comes in the late 90s of the 16th - early 17th centuries, which leads to a noticeable change in emphasis in Sydney. In R. Daniel, Sidney is no longer presented as a warrior, occasionally amusing himself with poetry, but as a knight of poetry, fighting with his pen against the “tyrant of the North - the great barbarism”, which he first discovered and put on public display. He inspired many to fight, and now many feathers, like spears, have been broken in this fight. (For the first time, the pen is put before the sword, and the literary field is recognized as the main one for Sidney.) Ben Jonson, an ardent defender of poetry and drama, develops this line, not only making the poetic gift the main feature of Sidney, but generally assigning the poet an absolutely dominant position in society. In a poem addressed to Sidney's daughter, Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland, he places the creative poet above earthly monarchs, citing the example of her father:

Poets are much more rare birds than kings,
And this was proven by your most noble father,
Neither before nor after whom was there anyone equal to him
Among those who fell to the source of our muses.

In another ode from the “Undergrowth” cycle, Johnson puts Philip Sidney on a par with the greatest poets of ancient and modern times - Homer, Sappho, Propertius, Tibullus, Catulus, Ovid, Petrarch. “Our Great Sidney” worthily crowns this list.

To summarize, it should be noted that as a perfect gentleman and “first knight”, F. Sidney represents a very syncretic ideal, in which the virtues characteristic of different ethos and cultural types are organically intertwined. He embodies traditional Christian, courtly, and humanistic virtues. However, such an alloy itself is quite typical for the Renaissance. Apparently, what elevated Sidney above other no less extraordinary personalities of his time was the fact that in each of the guises in which he performed, and in any field, he managed to reach the absolute, a certain logical limit: as an educated gentleman and a sophisticated courtier, he surpassed everyone; as a poet he had no equal; as a knight he fought in a real war and really died, as a Christian - he gave his life for the faith, suffering as a martyr for it.

Keywords: Philip Sidney, Philip Sidney, criticism of the works of Philip Sidney, criticism of the works of Philip Sidney, download criticism, download for free, English literature of the 16th century, the Renaissance

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