- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford (12 Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192840800
- ISBN-13: 978-0192840806
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 602,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Sidney's poetry and prose - all the major writing, complemented by letters and elegies - to give the essence of his work and thinking. Born in 1554, Sir Philip Sidney was hailed as the perfect Renaissance patron, soldier, lover, and courtier, but it was only after his untimely death at the age of 31 that his literary accomplishments were truly recognized. This collection ranges more widely through Sidney's works than any previous volume and includes substantial parts of both versions of the Arcadia, The Defence of Poesy and the whole of the sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella. Supplementary texts, such as his letters and the numerous elegies which appeared after his death, help to illustrate the whole spectrum of his achievements, and the admiration he inspired in his contemporaries.
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First Sentence
Her most excellent Majesty walking in Wanstead Garden, as she passed down into the grove, there came suddenly among the train one apparelled like an honest man's wife of the country; where, crying out for justice, and desiring all the lords and gentlemen to speak a good word for her, she was brought to the presence of her Majesty, to whom upon her knees she offered a supplication, and used this speech: The Suitor. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Her most excellent Majesty walking in Wanstead Garden, as she passed down into the grove, there came suddenly among the train one apparelled like an honest man's wife of the country; where, crying out for justice, and desiring all the lords and gentlemen to speak a good word for her, she was brought to the presence of her Majesty, to whom upon her knees she offered a supplication, and used this speech: The Suitor. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Philip Sidney, nephew of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (and Elizabeth's favourite) has become for us, as for at least some of his contemporaries, the epitome of the Renaissance courtier. However he is a far more complex and ambiguous figure than that (see, for example, the excellent Stewart biography Sir Philip Sidney: A Double Life). This excellent collection, edited and introduced by Duncan-Jones, herself a renowned Sidneian, is a superb introduction to the contradictions of this immensely intelligent, cultured, and yet slippery man.
This contains his early writings, the eclogues from the 'Old' Arcadia, the full Defense of Poetry, the full Astrophil and Stella, prose excerpts from the 'new' Arcadia, and a handful of psalms. It is rounded off with a few of Sidney's own letters (about 15 or so) and a short appendix which includes some very (very) brief writings about Sidney's death.
Duncan-Jones is unobstrusive in her commentary but the serious student will need to consult other secondary literature. The letters are fascinating and this section could have been much longer as it's difficult to get an affordable copy of Sidney's correspondance.
However, the full Defense and Astrophil make this a bargain at the price. For the Sidney student, do also get the Oxford 'old' Arcadia with this (The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (The Old Arcadia) (Oxford World's Classics), as the intersections between the epic/pastoral romance of that,and the Petrarchan Astrophil really do need to be read in conjunction.
This contains his early writings, the eclogues from the 'Old' Arcadia, the full Defense of Poetry, the full Astrophil and Stella, prose excerpts from the 'new' Arcadia, and a handful of psalms. It is rounded off with a few of Sidney's own letters (about 15 or so) and a short appendix which includes some very (very) brief writings about Sidney's death.
Duncan-Jones is unobstrusive in her commentary but the serious student will need to consult other secondary literature. The letters are fascinating and this section could have been much longer as it's difficult to get an affordable copy of Sidney's correspondance.
However, the full Defense and Astrophil make this a bargain at the price. For the Sidney student, do also get the Oxford 'old' Arcadia with this (The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (The Old Arcadia) (Oxford World's Classics), as the intersections between the epic/pastoral romance of that,and the Petrarchan Astrophil really do need to be read in conjunction.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful
"As what my heart still sees, thou canst not spy?"
10 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
This review relates to the volume: -Sir Philip Sidney: Major
Works-. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Katherine
Duncan-Jones. Oxford World's Classics. 2002. 416 pp.
This volume contains the works: A dialogue between two
shepherds...Wilton/ Two Songs for an Accession Day Tilt/
Philisides, the shepherd good and true/ Sing, neighbours,
sing/ The Lady of the May/ Certain Sonnets (32 sonnets)/
The lad Philisides/ The Old Arcadia (Complete)--Four
Eclogues, as well as, "What tongue can her perfections tell",
and "Since nature's works be good"/Lamon's Tale/Astrophil
and Stella (Complete, a sequence of 108 sonnets with
11 numbered songs interspersed!)/ The Defense of Poesy/
4 poems from -The New Arcadia-/ Sidney's poetic versions
of Psalms 6, 13, 23, 29, 38/ Letters (15)/ and 4 Appendices
(Henry Goldwell, "Shows Performed, 1581"/ Edmund Molyneux,
"A historical remembrance of the Sidneys"/Anon., "The
manner of Sir Philip Sidney's Death"/ Three elegies on
Sidney from -The Phoenix Nest-, 1593/ Extract from Fulke
Greville, 16 October 1586)/ and excellent Notes to the
works from pp. 332 - 408.
Sir Philip Sidney was born on 30 November 1554 and died on
17 October 1586, from complications of a battle wound, at the
age of 31.
Perhaps the two best insights into Sidney are supplied by
Katherine Duncan-Jones in her "Introduction" -- the first
is a quote by the modern critic, Theodore Spencer, who
said: "Once the poet has set himself the task of writing
an amorous complaint, that deep melancholy which lay
beneath the surface of glamour of Elizabethan existence,
and which was so characteristic of Sidney himself, begins
to fill the conventional form with more than a conventional
weight. It surges through the magical adagio of the lines;
they have the depth of reverberation, like the sound of
gongs beaten under water, which is sometimes characteristic
of Sidney as of no other Elizabethan, not even Shakespeare."
["Introduction," p. xi]. The other quote follows some
critical introduction by the editor herself: "Tellingly,
Sidney's own persona, Philisides, is described on his first
appearance as diabled by unhappiness: "Another young shepherd
named Philisides...had all this time lain upon the ground
at the foot of a cypress tree, leaning upon his elbow, with
so deep a melancholy that his senses carried to his mind no
delight from any of their objects."
But these poems rarely dwell in melancholy. The slight
hindrance, sometimes, is Sidney's versification itself.
The reader may find it slightly stilted and a bit too
poetically "artificial" to meet the rhythm or the rhyme.
However, the glories far outweigh the slights. A further
help to understanding Sidney might come from applying
deeper SYMBOLISM and interpretation to his works, in
names and themes. There is this left to end:
Love makes the earth water to drink,
Love to earth makes water sink;
And if dumb things [without speech] be so witty
Shall a heavenly grace want pity?
[from: -Astrophil and Stella-.]
-- Robert Kilgore.
Works-. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Katherine
Duncan-Jones. Oxford World's Classics. 2002. 416 pp.
This volume contains the works: A dialogue between two
shepherds...Wilton/ Two Songs for an Accession Day Tilt/
Philisides, the shepherd good and true/ Sing, neighbours,
sing/ The Lady of the May/ Certain Sonnets (32 sonnets)/
The lad Philisides/ The Old Arcadia (Complete)--Four
Eclogues, as well as, "What tongue can her perfections tell",
and "Since nature's works be good"/Lamon's Tale/Astrophil
and Stella (Complete, a sequence of 108 sonnets with
11 numbered songs interspersed!)/ The Defense of Poesy/
4 poems from -The New Arcadia-/ Sidney's poetic versions
of Psalms 6, 13, 23, 29, 38/ Letters (15)/ and 4 Appendices
(Henry Goldwell, "Shows Performed, 1581"/ Edmund Molyneux,
"A historical remembrance of the Sidneys"/Anon., "The
manner of Sir Philip Sidney's Death"/ Three elegies on
Sidney from -The Phoenix Nest-, 1593/ Extract from Fulke
Greville, 16 October 1586)/ and excellent Notes to the
works from pp. 332 - 408.
Sir Philip Sidney was born on 30 November 1554 and died on
17 October 1586, from complications of a battle wound, at the
age of 31.
Perhaps the two best insights into Sidney are supplied by
Katherine Duncan-Jones in her "Introduction" -- the first
is a quote by the modern critic, Theodore Spencer, who
said: "Once the poet has set himself the task of writing
an amorous complaint, that deep melancholy which lay
beneath the surface of glamour of Elizabethan existence,
and which was so characteristic of Sidney himself, begins
to fill the conventional form with more than a conventional
weight. It surges through the magical adagio of the lines;
they have the depth of reverberation, like the sound of
gongs beaten under water, which is sometimes characteristic
of Sidney as of no other Elizabethan, not even Shakespeare."
["Introduction," p. xi]. The other quote follows some
critical introduction by the editor herself: "Tellingly,
Sidney's own persona, Philisides, is described on his first
appearance as diabled by unhappiness: "Another young shepherd
named Philisides...had all this time lain upon the ground
at the foot of a cypress tree, leaning upon his elbow, with
so deep a melancholy that his senses carried to his mind no
delight from any of their objects."
But these poems rarely dwell in melancholy. The slight
hindrance, sometimes, is Sidney's versification itself.
The reader may find it slightly stilted and a bit too
poetically "artificial" to meet the rhythm or the rhyme.
However, the glories far outweigh the slights. A further
help to understanding Sidney might come from applying
deeper SYMBOLISM and interpretation to his works, in
names and themes. There is this left to end:
Love makes the earth water to drink,
Love to earth makes water sink;
And if dumb things [without speech] be so witty
Shall a heavenly grace want pity?
[from: -Astrophil and Stella-.]
-- Robert Kilgore.
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