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WELCOME TO THE PRESENTATION CEREMONY

Presented to:- Department of English Prepared by:- Dipjyoti Bharali


Roll No:- 18MEN005

Topic:- Major aspects highlighted in An Apology for Poetry


Course Title:- MA in English
Corse Code:- ENG-PG-C101
Title of the Paper:- Literary Criticism and Theory I
About the Author
Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586)
Philip Sidney was the model of an
Elizabethan courtier and gentleman. Being the first literary
critic of his country, he occupies a distinguished place in
the realm of Renaissance criticism through his seminal
essay “An Apology for Poetry” or The Defence of
Poetry”(1595).
*His other important works include:- Astrophel and
Stella, and The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.
About the Essay:-

After publication, the essay was primarily influenced by a group


of Puritan critics. Chief among them is Stephen Gosson (a former
playwright) who unauthorizedly dedicated his work “The School of
Abuse” to Philip Sidney where he criticized the moral shortcomings of
the ancient poetry and the contemporary licentiousness of English
stage. So in reply to this abusive text, Sidney wrote “An Apology for
Poetry”.
Major aspects of the Essay

Charges of Poetry
Sidney’s defence of poetry against these charges
Sidney’s views on the antiquity of poetry or classical norms
Sidney’s classification of poetry
Definition of poetry
Poetry superior to history and philosophy etc.
FOUR CHIEF OBJECTIONS TO POETRY:-

 1. Its uselessness
2. Its falsehood
3. Its corrupting effect
4. Plato’s condemnation of poetry.
Sidney’s reactions to these objections:-

oPoetry is the noblest of kind of learning because it teaches us virtue and moves our
minds to pursue virtuous action.
oA poet can never be a liar since his business is not at all to affirm---reference on
astronomer, geometrician and physician.
oIt is not poetry but a man’s wit that abuses poetry.
oReacting Plato’s charge, Sidney opines that Plato’s comment is only misinterpreted
and that Plato himself is the most poetical philosopher.
Sidney’s views on Antiquity of poetry or classical norms or Universality

• In reply to Gosson’s comment on moral shortcomings of ancient poetry, Sidney said:-”Poetry


is the first attempt to apply for the classical or ancient norms to English poetry .”
• Moreover he estimates poetry as the oldest and earliest branches of all forms of
composition.
•Examples of ancient poets---
of Greece-----Musacas/Homer/Hesiod/Amphion
of Rome-----Livius/Andronicus/Ennius
of Italy--------Dante/Boccaccio/Petrarch
•Regarding universality, Sidney said that Poetry in all nations has preceded other branches of
learning. The earlier Greek philosophers and historians were, in fact, poets. So Thales,
Empedocles and Parmenides sang their natural philosophy in verse.
Classification of poetry

Religious /Divine Poetry


e.g., David’s Psalm, Solomon’s Song of Songs and Proverbs

Philosophical Poetry
e.g., works of Cato, Lucretius, Virgil, Lucan etc.

Real Poetry (it delights as well as teaches)

Heroic Lyric Tragic Comic Satiric Pastoral Elegiac


Definition of Poetry:-

Poetry therefore is an art of imitation, for


so Aristotle termeth it in his word ‘Mimesis’,
that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting,
or figuring forth—to speak metaphorically, a
speaking picture; with this end, to teach
and delight.”
Superiority over Philosophy and History

Sidney said:- “Poetry is supreme in all the branches of learning, and the highest
honour must go to the poet.”
 Reasons:-

(i) The philosophers teach by precept, the historians by example, but the poet is
endowed with both these powers
(ii) The philosophers teach abstract things in an obscure manner. The historians can
imagine only the past things. But the poet is well-understood in spite of his fresh
imaginations and also becoming well-versed in all times.
Thank You

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