Courtier, soldier, and poet Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), born on this day in Penshurst, Kent, offered the world a rare blend of courage, intellect, and grace. His Defence of Poesie (1579–81), the first English essay of literary criticism, became a lantern for readers who believe in the power of story and imagination.

“Each excellent thing, once learned, serves for a measure of all other knowledge,” Sidney observed — a reminder that mastery in one area deepens our understanding everywhere.

A champion of originality, Sidney believed that literature ignites the highest form of learning because the writer brings together both the historian and the philosopher. This “perfect picture” could move a reader toward wisdom and toward what he called “the most excellent determination of goodness.”

His beloved sequence Astrophil and Stella (1580s), filled with 108 sonnets and 11 songs, shimmers with lyrical magic. It includes the timeless muse’s instruction: “Fool! said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.”

Admired in his own Elizabethan age and cherished by nostalgic Victorians, Sidney embodied the ideal of the chivalric knight — a gentleman warrior whose life blended duty, artistry, and devotion.

“There is nothing so great that I fear to do it for my friend,” he said. “Nothing so small that I will disdain to do it for him.”