i | PHILIP SIDNE. AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY An Apology for Patey, oF The Defence of Posy, to ive its alternative title is believed to have beea written about 1580. Stephen Gosson published in 1579 The Sthool of Abuse, and dedicated it to Sidney: the dg i Stn ely (te fo no). The wd was rt ished only in 1595, in two editions. The onc by Ponsonby, Believed to be the easier ofthe two, was called The Defence of Pegs the other, by Olney, dn Apology for Poetry. Our text fallows the Olney edition with, however, a few emendations from the Ponsonby. Spelling has been modernized. 5 7 10 y 39, 40 5° 86 90 4 103 ma 137 28 137 1) 142 150 10 161 162 177 180 wit understanding. contemplations studies. admiration astonishment. pedanteria _piece of useless knowledge. former ...silly latter learning... . defenceless poetry. Musson legendary Greek poet, pupil of Orpheus. science knowledge. Gyges’Ring Plato, Republic, I. 359. Gyges, a shepherd, became King of Lydia with the help of a magic ring. fashion form (as opposed to matter). weight per suasive or convincing power. judgements understanding. ‘areytos song accompanied by dance. stand upon rely on. but even ifonly. Sortes Virgilianae Virgilian divination. ». 139-42. Virgil, Aeneid, TI. g14: ‘Frantic 1 seize arms; yet little ‘purpose is there in arms.” in his age performed it Albinus fulfilled this pro- phecy when on an impulse he took up arms against Septimus Severus and was killed in battle. eonceit fancy. Hebricians | Hebraicians, Hebrew scholars. merely purely. changing of persons varying the speakers. prosopopoeias personifications. met with agreed with. scope purpote. 339340 1978 201 amg 219 220 29g, 229 238 gt 242 266 248 253 255 257 261 262,3 265, 268 268 287 stDNEY compassed ... matter limited to questions presented by the subject matter of the rhetorician and logician. metaphysic metaphysician. second and abstract notions refers to distinction made in logic between first notions or primary conceptions of things, eg. @ tre, an oak, and second or ‘abstract notions’, e gos, species, Be. supernatural metaphysical. brazen bronze} in reference to the gold, silver, bronze, and iron ages of the Greek and Roman poets. ‘Theagenes the hero in Aethispica, a Greck romance by Heliodorus (third century A.n.).0.3t8. Pylades friend ‘of Orestes. Orlando hero of Ariosto’s poem, Orlando Furiso. Xenophon’s Gyrus _for Xenophon’ flattering portrait of Gyrus 2. his political romance Gyropaedia or ‘Eclucation of Cyrus’. ‘essential icc. the works of Nature ‘exit’. theother of the poet. by of. second nature 1. Genesis, I. 26-go. Man is the first nature; the second nature is all the rest of the created world placed under Man. with no... incredulous of lending no small support 10 those who do not believe in. erected wit undcbascd understanding. mame icc of poet. opening of him explanation of the nature of the poet. Aristotle Poets, I. 2. fa speaking picture cf Horace, Art of Peetyy, 961 (. App.) three several kinds apparently based on the Poices of J. C. Scaliger (1569). Moses. 1, Exodus, XV. Deborah 0. judges, V. Tremellius . . . Junius sixteenth-century Biblical scholars. wrong divinity i.c. because pagan. hhis Hymns not the work ofthe authors of the Mad and Odyssey, but the so-called Homeric Hymns to Apollo, Hermes, &e. St. James's counsel v, Epistle of St. James, V. 19. Lucretia wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, who killed herself after being violated by Sextus, Paintings of this subject by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) and 295, 303 308 310 31 316 317 927-8 4ot 493, 43 438 430 436 439 “3 AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY at Cranach (1472-1951) may have been known to Sidney. waited on associated. want there not there lack not. iambic a piece of invective or satire in verse. numberous consisting of ‘numbers’ or rhythmical periods. no cause to poetry not the efficient cause, the prow ducing agency. as Cicero says Lelirs,1.i.8. (To his brother Quintus). absolute complete, entice. as in matter ... beyond them as poetry surpastes all clse in subject matter, so should it surpass the rest in its ‘manner of expression. table-talk fashion in casual language, peizing weighing. his... his its. its. anatornies analyses. enabling strengthening. conceit ideas. next end immediate object. ‘thot virtuous action. with books... names 9, Cicero, Pro Archia Peeta, XI: ‘Why, upon the very books in which ‘they bid us scorn ambition philosophers inscribe their names! generalities ... specialities the general and specific characteristics of virtue and vice. ‘accord. reconcile. testis temporum . . . Cicero, De Oratore II. ix. 96 (adapted): ‘witness of the times, light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, and messenger of the past, (ed) disputative virtue theoretical virtue, merely ‘talked about’. active practical, as opposed to theoretical. conferring story by story introducing, story after story. their disputation i.e. philosopher and historian, maketh a point comes to an end. standeth for concerns, formidine poenae . . . virtutis amore Horace, Epistles, T. XVI. 52-3 (adapted): ‘from fear of punish- ment’... ‘from love of virtue’. naughtiness wickedness. manners morals. halt limp.342 464 an 479 491 498 500 ou 534 Bat 54. 560 561 56a 564 a2 575 576 577-8 581 58-4 srDNEy who he who, exquisitely carefully. true lively knowledge that true knoviledge of a thing which can only come from seeing it, judicial comprehending such an understanding os, will enable him to make a judgement. Tully Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-45 2.c.). hhis i.e, anger’s, genus the class to which a species belongs. difference the characteristic by which a species is distinguished from all other species of the same gehus, In ‘anger is a short madness’, madness i the genus and sort the difference. Nisus and Euryalus ». Virgil, Aencid, IX. 176. carry not an apparent shining are not clearly depicted. Gnatho a parasite and flatterer in Terence’s Eunuchus, see through them sce right into them. Mediocribus ... Horace, Art of Potty, 972-3: ‘But that poets be of middling rank, neither men nor gods nor booksellers ever brooked.” formal in respect of form. Aristotle o. App., VIII. 1-1X. 4, in his imposed names the names of its imagined characters, doctrinable instructive, stin Justinus, Histrianan Phiippicann Libri XLIV, cf Dares Phrygius a work in Latin called De Excidio Tiojee purporting to be a translation of an account by Dares Phrygius, a priest of Hephaestus in the Mad, of the destruction of Troy. Ca a witch described in Satire, 1.8. Scipio cither Scipio Africanus the eldet, the conqueror ‘of Hannibal, or his nephew the younger Affieanus, who destroyed Carthage in 146 n.c. Quintus Curtius first century a.v., wrote a history of Alexander the Great. in universal consideration of doctrine as regards lessons of universal application, doth warrant... follow givesamangreaterassurance as to what he should do. it hath... conceit such an argument may well profit 2 dull imagination, But if... reasonable but if a man recognizes that ‘what was (a historical example) affords only a conjecture 588 608 635, 639 642 642 643 644 646 652 656 66 668 676 685, 687 yor 705, 7 5 ne 26-7 AN APOLOGY FOR PORTRY 343 as to what will be, and if he will use his reason, he must admit that the poet is superior to the historian in that the poet creates his example in accordance with reason. poetically by using his imagination. the tragedy writer |. Plutarch, Moralia, ol-[, p. 1013 Euripides gave this reply to one who complained that his, character Ixion was impious and detestable: ‘But I did ‘ot remove him from the stage until I had fastened him. to the wheel” The cruel Severus L. Septimus, Roman Emperor Ap. 199-201, died at York. excellent Severus M. ‘Alexander, Roman Emperor A.D. 222-35. rebel Caesar because he split the republic War, 49-45 8.6. Caesar's own words Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Lay. put down resign, literas nescivit ‘Sylla did not mow his ABC.” asif...well Sidney's points that ifSylla had been well read in history he would have found enough examples, for continuing his dictatorship. ‘by poetry of poetry. oceidendos esse perhaps based on Cicero, De Oficis, IL, vii: ‘that they [tyrants] are to be slain’. setting it forward inciting it. in teaching as regards teaching. philophilosophos lover of philosophers. in moving {in the power to affect the mind or feelings. Aristotle Nic Bthiss, I. g. gnosis knowledge. praxis action. painfalness taking of pains words of art technical language. natural conceit understanding based upon the innate moral feelings of mankind. ie knowledge of good and evil. thoc opus . .. Virgil, Aeneid, VI. 129: “This is the task, this the toil!” pretending no more i.e. than to tell a tale. aloes genus of plants with bitter juice. ‘whereof poetry is to which poetry belongs. Aristotle Poetics, IV. ‘Amadis de Gaule hero of famous romance of the ‘same name, Virgil, Aeneid, XII. 645-6: ‘Shall this land see (Turnus] in fight? Is death all so sad?”73 734 735 738 743 750 763. 785, 768 Te-7 7 nm 78 7B 782-3 791 792 800, 802 Srie 816 818 23,6 a7 B29 833, 842, 3 SIDNEY well knew i.e, that philosophers do not move. school-name a matter of academic interest only. indulgere genio Persius, Saties, V. 151: ‘Give your Genius a chance.” steal come insensibly. Menenius Agrippa »,Shakespeare’sorialewu, 1.1.91f% Iearned geometry for Plato's views », Republic, VIL, 9: ‘Tt would tend to draw the soul to truth, and would be productive of a philosophic attitude of mind.” Nathan Sema, U. xii 1-7. office in making David see the evil of his ways. ungratefully unkindly. second... cause Nathan’s story is the instrument teed by God the Mest Causes” Psalm Li. fend of its object. familiar usval, common, him poetry, although .. « authority in ju rust carry the greatest weight Sannazzaro (1458-1530) Neapolitan author of a pastoral in prose and verse called! Arca cometh... one makes no difference Meliboeas'. .. Tityrus speakers in Virgil's First Erlogues Meliboeus represents the farmers, and Tityrus may represent Virgil who appealed successfully to Augustus against the confiscation of his farm. Virgil, Zlogues, VII, 69-70: “This T remember, and how ‘Thyrsis, vanquished, strove in vain, From that day itis Corydon, Corydon with us? who the elegiae poet. painting out picturing. Omne ... amico; circum .. . Iudit these words, ‘with slight alterations, are parts of a couplet by Persius, Satis, L. 116-17: ‘Horace, sly dog, worming his way playfully into the vitals of his laughing friend, touches up his every fault. a passionate life _ life under the sway of the passions. Horace, pistes, 1 i. go: [What you are seeking (happi- ness) is here}; its at Ulubrae, if there fail you not a mind well balanced.” Ulubrae was a decaying town. comedy is an imitation Aristotle, Poetics, V. Demes, Davus, Thraso characters in Terence’s ‘comedies, poetry its effects 849 859 854 878 88 883 893 901 902 908 999 gr 935 AN APOLOGY FOR POBTRY 345 pistrinum the mill; place of punishment for slaves and criminals, admiration first introduced by Minturno (c. 1560), the term was accepted by Renaissance crities as describ ing one of the three fimetions of poetry; the other two being Horace’s instruction and delight. Here, coupled with commiseration, it is the equivalent of Aristotle's ‘pity and fear’ (». App., VI. 2-4). Seneca, Oedipus, 705-6; ‘Who harshly wields the sceptre with tyrannic sway, fears those who fear; terror recoils upon its author’s head.” Platarch Lift of Pdopides. natural problems questions deating with our real or physical existence, as opposed to moral. oldsong catlicr version of The Ballad of Chery Chase. erowder fiddler. Justy full of healthy vigour. fearful felicities the other two, reported om the same day, were the news of a victory over the Illyrians, and the birth of his son Alexander. fearful because three such pieces of good fortune all at once were too good to be safe. that kind Iyric poetry ‘Tydeus one of the seven heroes who fought against ‘Thebes. ». The Tiebaid by the Roman poet Statius. Rinaldo the hero of Tasso’s poem of that name (1562). Plato and Tully Plato, Phacdrus, 250D. Tally (Cicero), De Offi, L. 5. melius... Epistles, 1. i. 4: ‘Better than Chrysippus or Grantor.” Chrysippus was a Stoic philosopher, Crantor an academic pilosopher. his -,him refering to poetry, The sum that com- tains him the totality (of poctry). Playing wit one wih » git for paradox, Jolly commodity. "splendid advantage “br Sinaia TT. 862." Sidney invests the sense of the line, Agrippa (1485-1583) wrote a book on the vanity ofall Knowedge, versing™ writing in metre Scaliger o. note on 257. Bk. II deals with metre. his forcible quality 1 convincing nature. without ales Horace, Epi, 1.0 ako a tater? . 69: ‘Avoid a questioner, for he is346 1035 tog 1049 1055, 1059 1065 1091 101 1109, 10 38 1141.2 1148 1158-4 1158 1076 1178 ner 1195 119 1216,17 1219 1225 1207 SIDNEY Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 696: ‘While cach of us fatters himself, we are a believing crew.” imputations here Sidney is trying to answer Gosson. In The School of Abuse (dedicated to Sidney; and Tor his labor scored’: Spenser, Tiree proper and wittie familar letters) and An Apology of the School of Abuse, Gosson called poets ‘the fathers of lies, pipes of vanity, and Schools of Abuse’, [Arber Reprints, vol. I, pp. 65-6.) field tocar ie. opportunity. Chaucer cf. Knigh's Tale, 28, overshot Robin Hood a reference, most probably, to the proverb, ‘Many a one talks of Rabin Hood, who never shot in his bow.’ Applied here to those who tall about matters they know litle of. petere principium beg the question. first assumption that there are more fuitfal kinds of| knowledge. before alleged mentioned earlier. give the Iie to accuse of falsehood. John a Stile ... Noakes names used by lawyers for Imaginary persons ‘estates statns, degree of rank. cikastike . . . phantastik® terms borrowed from Plato but used here in 2 non-platonic sense. il-pleased eye the eye pleased by the perverse. abuse... abused the wrong use of poetry should be a reproach to poetry itself, rampire rampart. Albion an ancient poetical name for Britain, chain-shot cannon balls chained together, thus striking a larger target. city” Athens. Horace, Satire, I i. 63 (adapted): ‘I ' fool as he pleases? (E.] quiddity subtlety. ens existence. prima materia the original substance of which the universe is composed. Cato....Fulvius...Ennius Ennius the epie poet and dramatist accompanied Fulvius on his campaign in Actolia. Cato the elder, called Censorius om account of his severity, was displeased with (‘misled’) Fulvius for this, Gato Uticensis great-grandson of Cato the Censor. Pluto or Hades, God of the lower worl. unmustered not on the pay-roll ofthe army. him be as much 1298 1233 1260 1261 1263-6 1269-70 174 1275 1276 1277 1282 3284, 1287 1295 1298 1307 1319 1320 1924 1995 1327 1350 1360 AN APOLOGY For POETRY 347 misliked not this does not necessarily follow, for he may have been displeased with both, his person Ennius as a person, Plato... Dionysius according to a common story Plato was sold as a slave by Dionysius the tyrant, do thus argue in this way. Sidney is not seriously attacking philosophy but is merely using the same unfair arguments as the opponents Grow wantonness snot on account of the efferninacy caused by poetry. so as... poetry provided that they are not abused and that poetry is treated similarly, twice two poets St, Paul quotes two poets, each poet once. u» Tits, I. 123 Corinthians, T. xv. 33. setteth ... philosophy utters a cauionary word to philosophy. e. Colossians, 1. & Plato v, Republic, IL. g77ff. and X. induce introduce. very true, stood upon was concemed with, Plutarch». Moralia, V, for the first twos TI, for the third. Qua... Paces, I. ii: ‘which authority certain bar- barians and rude persons wish to abuse for the purpose of expelling poets from the republic.’ [Ed.] Jaw indulgence. Heautontimoroumenos comedy by Terence. Apollo through the oracle of Delphi », Plato, Apology, aA. Aesop’s Fables». Plato, Phasde, 60D. ie poetry. Plutarch 2, Moral, 1: How the young ‘man should study Poety. them poets guards ornamental trimmings or borders on a garment. Here it refers to the many quotations from poetry in Plutarch’s writings, Virgil, dentid 1. 8: ‘Tell me, O Muse, the cause; wherein thwarted in will. King James I of Scotland (1394-1437), author of poem The Kingis Quair. George Buchanan (1506-B2) Scots poet and scholars 2.1578. ‘Selttormentor’, title of a348 1361 ag7t 1372 1373 1374 13746 1386 1389, 1305, 1409 3419-15, 1416 agar ryaing 1423 1452 454 1459 sipNEY Hospital of France Michel de PHopital (1505-73), statesman and poet. over-faint quietness twenty-five years of peace under Elizabeth, ‘strew make clean. mountebanks quacks. Those of Venice were especi- ally famous. great praise that poetry should prosper in time of war (Gf. his refutation of the change of ‘effeminate wanton- ness, 1270). This suggests a reason why poets are not grateful to @ peacefil England (‘dle England’, 1377) which ignores them, Venus ...Mars...Vulean Vulcan was the husband of Venus, and Mars was her lover. The jealous husband forged a net and caught them in it, Epaminondas Theban general. Plutarch, Moral, X. pp. 223-5, says that he gave dignity to the office of Telearch or Chief Scaven post over... Helicon write poetry in a hurry. Javenal, Satis, XIV. 95 (adapted): ‘One whose soul ‘he Titan has fashioned .. of a finer clay.” Pallas Athena, patronessofboth the useful and fine arts, Orator .... “The orator is made, the poet is born.’ But these ... withal but we do not burden ourselves with either rules of art or models. foresbackwardly back to front. ‘quodlibet what you please. The poets show no dis- crimination. though wrongly . . . rank i.e. they assumed that whatever they said was verse, but such was not the case as they never ordered their lines in any regular manner. Trista, TV. x. 26 (adapted): Whatever I tried to say became verse." circumstances subordinate parts. faulty both in time and place Gist appearance in English literary criticism of the icea of the unities, the three principles of dramatic composition, viz. that a play should be confined to one action, one place, and a certain time (not longer than the play takes to perform). ‘The tunities of time and place were first formulated by Castelvetso (1505-71) in his commentary on Aristotle's Pass, For Aristotle, who insisted on the unity of action aly, ». App., V. 8, VII, VIII. inartificially inavtistically. 1495 1496 1499 1502 1516 1518 rat 1526 1548-52 1554 1555 1505, 1572-3 1574 1575 rbot 1610 1612 1619 1628 AW APOLOGY FOR POETRY 349 under-kingdoms inferior kingdoms, traverses crosses, difficulties. players in Italy the unities were more strictly followed fn Ttaly and France than in England, Eunuchus in this play the action is confined to two days. ‘twenty years as in the case ofthe ‘princes’ mentioned immediately before. played in two days this is most probably a misunderstanding of the phrase, bis din “ove in the same day’ o, Suetonius, Lie of Pacolet’s the enchanted horse of Pacolet, in theromance Valentine and Orson. Nuntius messenger. ab ovo Art of Poetry, 147: ftom the eggs ie. from the beginning. a story the subject of Euripides’ Hecuba, neither right. . . comedies like other ‘classical’ critics, Sidney supports the separation of Tragedy and Comedy. head and shoulders by force. Apuleius (c, a.n, 114) wrote The Gold As, 2 prose romance. It mixes comic and serious material, daintily sparingly. We shall... Inughter on the other hand, we some- times laugh at what has been safd in error, even though we ought to feel sorry for the speaker. Such enforced laughter causes pain rather than delight. Alexander's picture perhaps a reference to Plutarch’s Life of Alesaner, antics clowns, buffoons, Aristotle Poctiss, V. Juvenal, Satires, TLE, 152-3: ‘OF all the woes of luckless Poverty none is harder to endure than this, that it ‘exposes men to ridicule.” busy loving one who loves to pry. wry-transformed perversely changed. bewrayed revealed. coursing of a letter alliteration. winter-starved withered (from constant repetition). Nizolian paper-books Marius Nizolius (1490-1560) published a collection of words and phrases by Cicero. Vivit ... Cicero, Jn Catilinam, 1. 2: Yet this man lives, Lives, did I say? Nay, more, he walks into the senate.”950 1634 1637 1642 1656 1659 3671 1673 1685 1692-3 1698 1708 170 any 1730 1744 1752 1769 1764 on a ar 1775 SIDNEY ‘similiter cadences _ phrases cont commonly used by orators, sophister university student entitled to dispute in the schools. fineness subtlety. set by it set store by it. Knacks devices. pounded impounded wordish consideration consideration of the use of words. both the other Sidney is perhaps referring to Saxon and French as the two other languages. compositions . .. together i.e. compound words. number each line containing an equal number of svllables, accent stress; 9.1718. vulgar | common language of 2 country, the vernacular. Dutch including German, rhyme i.e. rhythm, motion, potion pronounced as trisyllables. with Aristotle mentioned nowhere in Aristotle, guid non what not. Hbertino... Horace, Sater, I. vi. 6: ‘a freeman’ son’. Herculea proles _‘asonof he houseof Hercules’, Virgil, Aeneid, TX. 446: ‘Ifaught may verse avail. mome dolt, fool. Momus god of fiultfinding. Bubonax Sidney is perhaps referring to the story of the satirical poet Hipponax and the sculptor Bupalus. ‘The latter so annoyed Hipponax with a true-toclife statue of his ugliness that in revenge he satirized Bupalus so bitterly that he hanged himself, to be done in Ireland refers to the practice of rats bbeing rhymed to death in Ireland. 1g similar sounds,ALEXANDER POPE: AN ESSAY ON GRITICISM (published 17:1) ‘The present text is that of the Globe Edition, except for 1. 231 (Th increasing prospects tire our wand’ring eyes’), where we give the generally preferred reading, and the full stop at the end of . 416 which we have changed to a comma, 4. sense understanding of the work criticized. 6 censure here, judge’ 17 wit here, ‘creative eai us. The word occurs many time jn the Hugy and in differing senses. . W. Empson, ‘Wit in the Ersay on Critcimn’, The Strctare of Complex Words (i951), and E, N. Hooker, ‘Pope on Wit: the say on Git’, Eightenth Century English Literature: Modera Essays in Gri, ed. J. L. Oiifford (1959). 28 wit intellectual ingenuity, as Johnson defined it in Tife of Cowley: ‘a kind of discrdia covers. . .. The most hheterogencous ideas ... yoked by violence together.” gogr he who can write rculs sival miters, he who cannot resent all who can. 34 Macvius bad poct satirized by Virgil and Horace. 36 Wits men ofletters, or perhaps brilliant talkers. 39 mules cross between horse and ass, neither one thing nor the other, and barren. ; their origin oF parentage is doubtful. $B wie meant derogatory here, One conceited fellow ean uta hundred ordinary people rretending wit ambitious intellect. 5629 Popes theory is that i the memory is strong, the intellect will be weak, and if the imaginative power is well developed, the memory will be defective. 6 wit 0.1, 68 Nature as opposed to the artifical or what is made by 76 informing animating. 80-8: they posess wit (imagination) but not the wit (judge- ment) to use it properly. 8% 'Tis more more. important, Cf Longinus, On the Sublime, TI (. App.) 86 Rules of old the classical rules. Of Dryden, Preface to Troilus ond Cressida: “Twill conclude with the words of 358 104 108 109 15 120 129 133 138 142 159 170 14 180 183 194 19 206 216 220 293, 297 239 240-42 259 261 263, 265, 267 270 273 278 AN ESSAY ON CRITICISSE 359 Rapin, in his reflections on Aristotle's work of poetry: “If the rules be well considered, we shall find them to be ‘mace only to reduce nature into method.” . .. ‘wits Tntellectuals, writers. ————~ *Pothecaries apothecaries. Bills prescriptions. receipts. recipes. fable plot, story. read Virgil (Publius Virgitius Maro, bora near Mantua) as a commentary on Homer—for the reasons then given. but except. Stagirite Aristotle, born at Stagira. there isthe ‘luck’ of genius as well as painstaking obser- vance of the rules. Great wits poets of genius. them the works of the ancients. cf. Horace, Art of Peetry, 361-3 (2. App.). nods dozes. Ch. Horace, Ari of Poetry, 959. Flames perhaps referring to the burning of the ‘Alexandrian and Palatinate libraries. must aot cannot. Wits 2.45. reeruits supplies. wit intellectual eapacity. Pierlan spring Hippocrene, the Muses’ well of in- spiration, tempt attempt. work of Wit creative work. delight i. in ‘seeking slight faults’. in in the case of ch. Horace, Art of Poetry, 265-8, and Longinus, On the ‘Sublime, XXXUIL. 2 (0. App). men of wit writers, verbal pedantic, Inys lays down, subservient art subordinate part of the whole. notions personal eccentricities of taste. La Mancha's Knight the incident comes from the so-called Steond Part of Don Quixote, a work from another hand than Cervantes’ Dennis John Dennis (1657-1734), a considerable critic, and enemy of Pope. The reference is probably to his Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry (170%). nice discriminating. ists fenced area in which knights met in combat,360 286 287 288 289 297 299-00 302 306 308 319 308 352 337 35 346 347 356 365, ar 374 378 POPE Gusiousuot knowing inquisive and ingenious rather than earned. mlco dio, nd ered derogatory shore detec half bake. fencer are armen then of te whole a eee ‘True Wie a propriety of thoughts and words (Dryden, Prefice to Thee of Ieee as oppced to the tse vie (omateren) of 292. Jelnoh (Life of Caley) om ments, "Pope'y account ow. aoudly ecrnenus Papeuiers cra heermin rine trier! feos engi of thooght to happines of language’ But Honma sugges, "The debattonpeuppars the Vielen an axight of he ereatve wind oud i deroaiiaproprcty, the Pettct aprnncat of ory thoughts Qs feshaped by the any and suljedt Ts Hite mane antici Gp. cc) Sage eases neste oeeee peed cee ear erga Sevnee ten wie wise, igenuity oC maginaton fas in flowing tne. eC EE (beaux), though it could be taken the other way about, ee te Fungoso "in Jonen’s Eony Man ou of His How. eure Nonthers "metal fet petite are ree Bowel by one begining with a vowel, The line cone tans thee coampien ee tek ow words ari tis fine tell, Des, Mlerandsina "a vene of ax iambic 0, Hk ihe ‘Hlowing ine. thi pasige i based on the thie book of Vie’ det of Peed (or aote on Yo), which treats n detail quetons cfapleand dston Comalla Volcan warvionmaiden; ef: Aaid, VIL feb Timotheus musician; ». Dryden, Acand’s Fa. Libyan Jove cording te onc legen; Alsander the eae ered: got 308 400 415 429 4at 445, “a7 449 456 459 465, 468 479 AN ESSAY OW GRITICISM 361 admire wonder at, feel astonishment at. approve put to the test. Wie literary genius. sublimes refines Quality people of high rank. ive. their wit or ‘cleverness’ has led ‘the schismatis? to ddsent from “the plain believers’ where the latter happen to be in the right. School-divines theologians concerned with establish- ‘ment of dogma by logical demonstration Sentences Book of Sentence, a compilation (by Peter Lombard, in 1159) of passages from the Fathers of the Church, intended to settle doctrinal disputes. Scotists and Thomists followers of the thirteenth. ‘century theologians, Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas, respectively. Duck-lane a place in London where old books were sold. Wit learning and letters. fan author's wit is ‘proved’ by his popularity with a wide audience, ic. the fools of the time. Wie as in 447. Parsons, Critics, Beaux parsons: Jeremy Collicr and Luke Milbourn; ‘rites: Sir Richard Blackmore and ‘Thomas Shadwell, among others; beaux: George Villers, Duke of Buckingham, and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: Zoilus__lamous for his attack on Homer. Wit literary genius. Patriarchawits the classical authors, whose fame (‘second life!) has lasted s0 long, are compared to the Jongelived Patriarchs of the Old ‘Testament. Wit skill in writing. In these lines Pope dwells on the sorrows of being a writer: what Empson calls ‘the poet= ‘outcast idea’. ‘Atones compensates, the vicious fear its satire; the victuous shun it because they associate it with irzeigion and distoluteness; fools hate it out of envy; knaves ‘undo" it perhaps through turning it to swrang purposes, perhaps (as Warburton suggested) because men who have gained power by evil Teave learning and letters to starve. ‘Wites, the more reluctant he is to praite362 gan 531 536 538 aM 545, 546 556-7 585, 588 398 601 oy 68 619 623 Pore stered_ ie, accursed. wit and art intellectual agility together with artistry. tasy Monarch Charles It Jilts Charles's mistreses, statesman eg. Sir George Etherege and George Villers, Duke of Buckingham. young Lords eg. Buckingham, Rochester, Sir Charles Bedley (the ‘Lisideiud of Dryden's Busy of Dramatic Poesy), Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (to whom Dryden dedicated his Eis), and John Sheeld, Bas! of harles I's reign it was customary for ladies to wearmaski at the theatre. These hid their blushes more successfilly than fans. unimprov'd ironical reference to the ‘improving’ entertainment offered by the Restora- tion stage, obviously fans would not be required at the theatre if masks were used. The line may mean: hardened by their theatre-going, the ladies no longer found fans necessary for any sort of social occasion. Foreign reign that of William III. Socinus (1525-62), leader of the Unitarians, who rejected the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the existence of the Devil, and the doctrine of eternal punishment. unbelieving priests the Latitudinarians, who" were often charged with being Socinians. those, discriminating in a malicious way, who misrepre- sent an author as vicious. Appius John Dennis, so called after his tragedy, ‘Appius and Virginia; ‘twemendous' was notoriously & fav ourite word of his. Honourable of rank. noblemen were at this time granted degrees without examination. lashed by the critic, dull writers merely become duller, 28 a whipped top seems to grow motionless, Durfey a voluminous and feeble writer, swith according to, Garth Sir Samuel Garth, a friend of Pope, whose authorship of the mock-heroie Dispensary was at the time denied by some. Paul's church . . . Paul’s churchyard the body of the cathedral was earlier the reiort of curisity-mongers and ilers, and the churchyard the headquarters of the booksellers. 657 697 m4 79 ms 77 pa 23 75 r9 AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM 363 Maconian Star Homer; Smyrna, in the province of Maconia, claimed to be his birthplace. Aristotle ‘conquer'd Nature’ in virtue of his Natural Histor, and ‘should preside o'er Wit or literary matters in virtue of his Poetics. of 82, e. than by being misquoted by eritis. ionysius Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a critic of the last century 2.0. Quintilian a critic (an. gone 118), celebrated for his Instttio Oratoria Eagles standards of the Roman armies. same foes the barbarians; Alaric sacked Rome in AD. 410. a a priest himself, Erasmus was ‘the glory’ of the priest= hhood, and through his attacks on ecclesiastical abuses, “the shame’ Leo's golden days the papary of Leo X, 1519-21, at the height of the Renaissance. Vida Marco Girolamo Vida wrote both poctry and criticism (drt of Peet, 1527) in Latin, He was born in Gremana Rome was sacked by the Constable of Bourbon in 1527. Boileau poet, satirist, and critics Pope has in mind his Art pottique (1634) wit the imagination, Wit literary work, especially perhaps as relates to the imagination. the Muse "ie. John Sheffield, Bas! of Mulgrave, later Duke of Buckinghamshire, im his Essay on Pociry (1682). Roscommon Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon (. 1633-84); his poems include Ax Eucy on Traaslated Verse and a translation of Horace’s Art of Poetry. Walsh William Wakh_(¢. 1663-1708), a mediocre post, but good friend to Dryden, and friend and mentor to the young Pope,WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS “The Preece was frst published in 1800, Another version with addi- tional matter (7. 304-576, and the pendix) appeared ist 1802, ‘This, with minoe revisions, ithe basis of the standard text of 1850, which we follow. 4 a 85-6 87 9 93 97 98 109 172 1% 180 18 Neer Ianguage idiom. ‘exponent 0, 55-7, ‘the promise... reader’ associate... excitement a statement from the a3s0- ciationist school of psychology, first developed by David Hartley (1705-57). “The general law of association, or, more accuratelyy the common condition under which all exciting causes act . . . is this. Ideas by having been together acquire a power of recalling cach others or every partial representation awakes the total representation of which it had been a part.’ Colevidge, Biagraphia Litrari, ced. J. Shaweross (1907), vol. I, p. 72. essential passions 4 reitrence perhaps to the six primary paisions of contemporary philosophy: wonder (admication), love, hate, desire, joy, and sorrow. elementary feclings might mean (2) less intense, less ‘conscious passions; or (#) the same as essential passions; ‘oF (@) what Hartley termed sensations: those internal feel- ings of the mind which arise from the impressions made by external objects upon our bodies. manners modes of life, rules of behaviour. incorporated associated. nature extemal nature, philosophical precise, ational events presumably the war with France. rapid communication the mail-coach and the tele- graph had been recently introduced. frantic novels ‘Gothic’ romances. German Tragedies the best-known German drama- sist was Kotzebue (1761-1819). o. Coleridge, Bingrophia Literaria, vol IL, p. 138: ‘What (I would ask ofthe crowd, that press forward to the pantomimic tragedies and sweeping comedies of Kotzebue and his imitators) what are you seeking 367WORDSWORTH, art of association i.e, by re-associating the expressions swith other felings. Gray who said, “The language of the age is never the language of poctry’. ». Corrupondence, ed. Toynbee and Whibley (1935), p. 192. Sonnet onthe Death of Richard Wet ‘ouch as Angels weep’ Paradise Lest 1. 690. the language the additional matter of the 1802 ed. of the Preface begins here dissimilitude i.e. a difference in effect from that given by the unselected language with its vulgarity and Ianguage ....men whatever they may say in public. comprehensive soul x. Dryden, 1498 (on Shake- speare). sympathy community of feeling. Frontiniac a muscat wine made at Frontignan, France. Philosophic for what Aristotle really said 0. App., VIL. 1-1X. 4: For this reason . .. facts. overbalance preponderance ‘chat he...” Hamlet, IV. iv. 97. relationship a sense of the connectedness of things. atmosphere of sensation climate of feeling. assumed presumed (by the writer). Render the additional material of the 1802 version ends here. numbers metrical fet proves knows by experience. The Gamester a tragedy by Edward Moore (712-5). Babes in the Wood? better known as The Children in the Wood. For the connection between the two versions F.W. Bateson, Wordsworts (1956), B-135- Did sweeter...’ from Charig, A Paraphrase (of T Corinthians 13). Passport i.c. metze, which itis claimed poetic phraseology’) should accompany. 8. T, COLERIDGE: BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA, CHAPTERS XIV, XVII, AND PART OF XVIII In a letter to Dr. Brabant, 29 July 1815, Coleridge wrote: ‘I have just finished it (Biographia Liferaria] . .. 1 have given a full account (raisonné) of the controversy concerning Wordsworth's Poems and ‘Theory, in which my name has been so constantly included. I have no doubt that Wordsworth will be displeased, but I have done my duty to myself and to the public, in, as I believe, completely sub- ‘yerting the theory and in proving that the poet himself has never acted on it except in particular stanzas, which are the blots of his ‘composition.’ Biographia Litearia was first published in, Our text follows this, the only edition to appear in Coleridge's lifetime, as reprinted by J. Shawoross (Oxford, 1907). 19-93, or 95, a5 us 147 196 236 250-61 245-56 389 ag 432-4 subjects ... themselves», Wordsworth, 76-86. real cl Wordsworth, 79. Fovent collection the Poems of 1815 Emmediate « » send ive, which would not derive pleasuce from any poetry whose ultimate aim was some thing other than ‘moral or intellectual; e.g. obscene poetry. Bathyilus Anacreon, Odes, XXX. ‘Alexis Virgil, Eelogus, 1 Praecipitandus «=» Sairien, CXVII: ‘the free spirit of genius must plunge headlong” Inxis «+ probably adapted trom Virgil, Georgie, 1 64: “is carried onwards with loosened reins’. Nosce Teipsum, IV. The third stanza here differs con- Sderably from the origina. 2. Wordsworth, go-g8. Regations qualities not present. ‘Belstotle 1X. 1-g.. App.:'what we have said. . was Gone to him’, essentially the footote is an extract from Satyrane's Letters I oviginally published in The Friend (1809). Sho poetic...age i. the persons of poetry must either be Hepresentative, lite the swains of Thcocritus, oF pare imaginary like those ofthe golden age, There cannot be any intermediate alternative. 369370 483-5, 487-90 502 528 B49 605 620 630 630-31 bsr3 35-4 646 670 873, 72 rr 837 14 7 8 Boi-2 838-46 2-7 a8 for 928-39 967-8 973 997 1004 1016 1063 ‘coLERIDGE in order . . . drama ie. the poet ean deseribe the beauties in his own perton instead of leaving it to his characters, in whom such descriptions might seem un- likely or sentimental, 2, Wordsworth, 86-90. anile of or like an old woman. Tour ie. the passage beginning ‘As now to any eye’. 2. Wordsworth, 98-107. of in, Tom Brown (1659-1704) satirist, hack writer, and translator. Sir Roger L’Estrange (1616-1704) jour- nalist and writer of political pamphlets. The difference suggested is that between journalism and the ‘grand style. 2. Wordsworth, 79. ». Wordsworth, 98-9. #. Wordsworth, 2o1=2. 2. Wordsworth, 285-7. Algernon Sidney’ (1622-05) author of Discourse con cerning Goverment Dante in De Vulgeri Eloquent (1905-0). ina state... 2, Wordsworth, 86 himself in note to The Thom. Deborah». judges, v. surview survey. The Last ofthe Fleck, i. sublime hymn tefers perhaps to Paradice Lot, V. 14-52. Excursion, T 79. ordonnance. systematic arrangement. exclusive... themselves ic. that would exclude the suggestion that the words are ofthe same class, 2, Wordsworth, 247-54. 2, Wordsworth, 275-80. denied... one Wordsworth however thought differ ently. 2. 237-49. origin of metre». Wordsworth, 5898 IV. Wv. 87-97. To the Rev. Mr. Powel. ‘Children in the Wood? 2, Wordsworth, 779. Gaijpare Sanpeorérara wonders most wondrows, titles of chapters in A Sentimental Journey. pedestrian walking. around Coleridge, Remorse, TV. i, 69-73. 1086 1138 115, 1188 BIOGRAPHIA LITFRARIA 37 mordant a substance used for fixing colouring matters ‘on stuffs affirms v. Wordsworth, gift Videlicet namely. genial sympathetic. Poet we omit the next goo lines (p. 59,1. 7-p. 68, 1. 145 Shaveros). ‘To sum up... this is the final paragraph of Chapter XVI.PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY: A DEFENCE OF POETRY ‘This was written in early x821 as an ‘antidote’ to Thomas Love Peacack’s semi-serious essay, The Four Ages of Poetry, published in ot Ys Literary Miscellany, No. 1 (1820). Shelley intended to print bis answer in this samme magazine, but it ceased publication, and the Defence frst appeared in 1840 “Essays, Letters fram Abroad, Transla- tions and Fragments, by P. B. Shuley, edited by his widow. The present text is that of the Second edition (1845) which corrects minor errors in the first. 8 r8nouty to make. Of Sidney, 176. 10 73 Aoyltew to reason. ror ‘thesame footsteps ...? of: Aduancement of Learning, Ul. ve 3 125 prophets of. Sidney, r29ff. 148 Language, colour, form cf. Plato, Ssmpacium (203B-C), which Shelley had translated a few years before, 151 imperial faculty imagination. 183 popular division into prose and verse cf. Sidney, 31H. and ggg, and Wordsworth, footnote to 295. 205 so that so long as. 212 Plato was essentially a poet cf. Sidney, 8iff. and 1299, and Colesidge, 2oaff. 24g-9 v. Sidney, 541-51 and note. 354 moths of just history cf Bacon, Advencement of Learning, TL fi. 4. 270 accompanied with pleasure cf. Sidney, 6g0f ‘Johnson, 233-45 and Wordsworth, 424M. 286-9 ‘of Sidney, soft. ‘agi an ambition cf. Sidney, 7o7ff ger planetary music cf. Sidney, 1768. 322, immorality of poetry cl. Sidney, 1119ff, in answer to Gosson. Peacock had complained that poetry ‘could serve only to ripen a splendid lunatic like Alexander, a puling driveller like Werther, or a morbid dreamer like Wordsworth’. 332 makes familiar objects... cf Wordsworth, 81-2 372 345 367 arg 432 532 58 569 578 617 ‘A DEFENGE OF PORTRY 373 poetry administers to the effect Peacock had writ- ten, ‘as the sciences of morals and of mind advance to- wards perfection, as they become more enlarged and comprehensive in their views, as reason gains the ascend- ancy in them over imagination and feeling, poetry can no longer accompany them in their progress, but drops into the background, and leaves them to advance alone’. eyelic poets Greek epic poets of Tonian schoo! who treated parts of the Trojan eyele not included in Iliad and Odyssey. blending comedy with tragedy of Sidney, 1515 Calderon Spanish deamatist (1600-81), whose ‘autos sacramentales’ (religious plays) Shelley much admired. classical and domestic drama Restoration and ‘Augustan tragerly, and Restoration comedy, respectively. Cato of, Johnson, 759ft. ‘The period cf. Pope, 534-43. bucolic writers Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. sensual and pathetic pertaining to the senses and to the emotions, respectively. Astraea goddess of Justice she lived among men in the olden age but afterwards was removed to the stars as the constellation Virgo. sacred links. ch. Plato, Joe, 533D-E, 5g5B-5g6B. Camillus ahero ofthe Roman Republic (447-365 2.¢-), who defeated the Gauls on several occasions. Regulus captured by the Carthaginians, he accompanied their embassy to Rome in 250 n.c. and advised the senate against accepting their peace proposals. He kept his promise to return to Carthage, and was there tortured todeath. expectation of the senators... when the victorious Gauls reached Rome in go0 .c. they found the senators waiting in the Forum, alone, to offer them- selves as sacrifices for their country. Cannae the Carthaginians, under Hannibal, destroyed the Roman army at Cannae in 216 9.0. quia carent... Horace, Odes, IV. ix. 28: “because they lacked a sacred bard. the three forms the immortal soul, or reason; the higher mortal soul, or affections of the heart; and the ower mortal soul, or appetites. («. Timaaus, 69C-72D.) In the rest of this sentence, Shelley seems to be referring, to the doctrine of the Trinity. ‘Light? seems to ‘thicken’ Peacock had s ‘To the374 653-5 663 os yea 73 787 718-85 Ay a4 834 258 859 82 SHELLEY age of brass in the ancient world succeeded the dark ages, in which the light of the Gospel began to spread over Europe, and in which, by a mysterious and inscrutable dispensation, the darkness thickened with the progress of the light.” Macbeth, U. ii. 50. Celtic ' mistake for “Teutonic’ also in 669 and 700. ‘Galeotto fi il libro... 2 Dante, Inferno, V. 137. Francesca tells Dante how she and Paolo discovered their love while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere (Old French version), in which Sir Galle- hhault was the go-between. Thus, ‘the book, and he that wrote it, was a Galeatto'. Trouveurs i.e. the troubadours, Plato cf. specch of Agathon in the Symposium (1968), as translated by Shelley: ‘every one... becomes a poet as soon as he is touched by Love...” Riphacus . . . justissimus unus Aeneid, II. 426: foremost in justice among the Trojans’. Dante placed him in Paradise on the grounds that by divine grace he ‘was made aware of the future redemption of mankind by Christ and so renounced paganisin. ‘implacable hate’, &c., is exhibited both by Milton’s God and by his Devil. This is mitigated by the nobility which attends Satan’s defeat, but seems all the worse in God, ‘who triumphs dishonourably (in ‘cold security’) alleged design’ i.e. declared design, v. Paradise Lost, I. 211-15 and IIL, 8¢-6. imitator by modelling the Aeneid on Homer's epics. GE. Pope, 130-38. Lucifer ice. ‘light-bringer’, the morning star. poets have been challenged cf. Peacock: poetry ‘can never make a philosopher, nor a statesman, nor in any class of life a useful or rational man. It cannot claim the slightest share in any one of the comforts and utilities of life of which we have witnessed so many and so rapid advances” snechanists mechanistic philosophers, Under the heading ‘reasoners and mechanists’ Shelley includes rationalists, social scientists, political economists—and perhaps (v. 886) mechanical engineers. That ig, those con- ‘cersied with what Peacock called ‘the real business of life’. “To himthathath ... cf. Matthew, XIII. 12, and else- where in the Gospels. 1073 1074 1083 1105 ang 1155 1158 1166 u77 ‘A DEFENCE OF POETRY 375 eis better ...? adapted from Keclesases, VIL. 2. abolition of the Inquisition in Spain in 1820. Tdare not... Macbeth, I. want lack; also in g52 and 953- God and Mammon cf, Matliew, VI. 24: ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. centre and circumference... cf Wordsworth, 485-7. : : ‘dictated’. . . ‘anpremeditated song’ of. Paradise Lost, IX. 23-4 various readings Ariosto began the work ¢. 1503 and ‘was continually revising it up to his death in 1593. bearing sweet news... things bearing sim!lar joyous newsto thote people in whomkindred intimations (‘sisters’) must abide in silence (‘sleeping ... cold . . . buried’) because, not being poets, they eannot ‘express? them. All things exist as... perceived cf, Descartes and Berkeley. ‘The mind is its own place ...2 Paradise Lost, 1. 254-5. film of familiarity cf, Coleridge, 36. Non merita nome di creatore ‘None but God and the Poet deserve the name of ereator.’ Reputedly a saying of Tasso, “there sitting...’ adapted from Paradise Last, 1V. 829. sins ‘were as scarlet...’ adapted from Laiak, I 18. Theseids ...Codri referring to a dull writer satirized by Juvenal (Sates, I. 1-2): ‘.. . bored by the Theseid [chic porn] of the ranting Cordus'. Bavius and Maevius r-note on Dryden, 137. confound i.e. confuse. the second part the Defence was to consist of three parts, but the second and third were never written. iast national struggle the Civil War, 1642-8.JOHN KEATS: FROM THE LETTERS ‘The passages are taken from The Letters of john Keats, ed. Maurice Buxton Forman (th edition, 1952). Some slight changes have been, made in punctuation, spelling, and use of capital letters, 5 6 5 6 oF 93 sublime sublimity. first Book Book I of Endymion Bittle song ‘O Sorrow’ (Endymion, IV. 14612), in Keates letter to Bailey, 3 November 1817. ‘Adam's dream Poradise Lost, VIII. 460. Sensations H. E. Rollins (Letters of John Keats, 1814- 1821, 1958) notes W. W. Beyer's remark, Jounal of English and Germanic Philology, LI (1952), 997n.: ‘Here Keats uses “Sensations” in the sense of “intuitive per= ceptions through the senses”... Cf J. M. Murry, Studies in Keats, VI (1930): ‘Abstract thinking, in the ordinary sense, was quite alien to Keats; the movement of his thought was richly imaged, and amazingly cone crete—"‘sensations rather than thoughts? the punctuation is confusing, but the general tenor is, fairly clear: the imagined face of the singer—more beaue tifal than the actuality—will be encountered (Le. its prototype will be) in the life to come. Imagina working on the material of present and earthly reality, prefigures the finer realities of the hereafter. (A combina tion of the two ideas expressed in 16-17 and 1g-21.) put its hand presumably, to pull out a bludgeon. what shocks... cf, Sidney, 1078 speculation probably, ‘disinterested contemplati (J. M. Murry, op. cit., VI). infor MB. Forman (The Letters, p. 227) has this note: ‘Mr. G. Beaumont in The Times Literary Supplement, February 27 and May 1, rogo, suggests that Keats in- tended to write “informing”. ‘The facts are that the words "in" and “for”, the last words on the page, are written closer together than other words on the same page, that they are followed by a dash which might very well be read as a hyphen, and that “informing” is in every way an improvement to an otherwise clumsy parenthesis’ For the thought of this passage, of. Shelley, 341-4. 376 100 u7 PROM THE LETTERS 377 write no more in the letter to which this is a reply, Woodhouse had protested against Keats's statement, in conversation, that the possibilities of poetry had been exhausted and therefore he would write no more. Saturn and Ops in Hyperion. toad every rift? of, Faerie Queene, 1, i 28.