The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

"The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia" by Philip Sidney is a prose pastoral romance written towards the end of the 16th century. This ambitious work blends idealized shepherd life with dramatic tales of jousts, political intrigue, kidnappings, and battles. When a duke receives an ominous oracle predicting stolen daughters and a usurped throne, he retreats to a pastoral lodge—hoping to escape fate. Sidney significantly revised and expanded his original version before his death, creating two major texts that scholars call the Old and New Arcadia. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Edited by Ernest A. Baker. Reading ease score: 54.1 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. Originally issued 2023-05-24. Transcribed by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. This work is in the public domain in the United States. Sourced from Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70854).