Sir Philip Sidney's

An aplogy for poetry

Edited by
Amir lodhi
Sidney's defence of Poetry
In defence of poetry Sidney articulated his "Theory of Poetry" largely drown from Classical
source.

 Sindney contends that the Critics do not understand what the poetry actually is. They are
they have been misled by modern poetry which is frequently bad.
 He claims that Poetry is infact the "Monarch of the Arts".
 Sodny defines poetry as a tool for teaching virtue.
 Poet as semi-divine figure is capable of imagining a more perfect version of nature.
 Sidney begins his defense for poetry by claiming the poety to be the first of Arts that
came before philosophy and history.
 indeed many of the classical philosopher and historians wrote in poetry.
 Even those wrote in prose like Plato and Herdotus, wrote in poetic style to come up with
philosophical allegories, to supply vivid historical details. Without borrowing from
poetry, historions and philosophers would never have become popular.
 Poets hold respect in the ancient Greek and Latin having the names Vates means seer or
prophet and the poetry was considered to convey important knowledge about the
future. Poietes means maker and the poet like God create new and more perfect realities
using their imaginations.

Proposition
 In the reference to the proposition, Sidney defines poetry as an art of imitation that
teaches its audience through "delight" or pleasure. In its ability to embody ideas in
compelling images poetry is like "a speaking picture."
 Sidney then specifies that the kind of poetry he is interested in is not religious or
philosophical, but rather that which is written by "right poets". This ideal form of poetry
is not limited in its subject matter by what exists in nature, but instead creates perfect
example of virtue that while may be not real, is well suited to suited to teaching readers
about what it means to be good.
 is a more effective teacher of virtue than history or philosophy because, instead of being
limited to the realm of abstract ideas, like philosophy, or to the realm of what actually
happened, like history, poetry can present perfect examples of virtue in a way best suited
to instruct its readers.
 The poet can embody the philosopher's "wordish description" of virtue in compelling
characters or stories, which more pleasure able to read and easier to understand and
remember like Aesop's Fable. The poet should therefore be considered the "right
popular philosopher". Since with perfect and pleasureable examples of virtue like
Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid, poetry can move reader to act virtuously.
 Reading poetry about virtue, is like taking a "Medicine of cherries".
Refutation of four most serious charges
Following the classical structure Sidney rebuts the criticism made of poetry by poet haters. He
outlines the four most serious charges sets against potry that:
1. Poetry is a waist of time,
2. Poets are liars,
3. Poetry corrupts our morals,
4. And that Plato banished the poets from his ideal state in "Republic".
Sidney highlighted that all of these objections rest on the power of poetry to stir its audience,
which means that they are actually reasons to praise poetry. For if poetry is written well, it has
enormous power to move its audience to virtue.

Peroration or Conclusion
Sydney summarized his arguments devoting the last portion of his essay to a degression on
medern poetry.
Sydney admits "there is relatively little modern English poetry of any quality. However is not
because there is anything wrong with English or with poetry, but rather with the absurd way in
which poets write poems and playwrights write plays.

Poets must be educated

Poets must be educated To write more elegantly, borrowing fron classical sources without apishly
imitating them, as so many poets, oraters and scholers did in Sydney's time.
The power to immortalize people
For English is an expressive language with all the apparatus for good literature, It is simply waiting
for skillful writers to use it.
Sidney brings "An apology for Poetry" to close with a holeful note and warning the readers just as
the poetry has the power to immortalize the poeple in verse, so too does it have the power to
condemn others to be forgotten by ignoring them altogether. Critics of poetry should therefore
take Sidney's arguments seriously.