Ma'am Ayesha Kashif

Bushra Ramzan

70143731

Major Works in Literature

Plato (427 - 347 bc):

Plato's philosophical writings, particularly his ideas on art reflected in Phaedrus, Ion,
and the Republic, serve as the foundation for Platonic critique. In practice, Platonic critique is
part of a broader approach to literature that includes an evaluation of a work's moral, ethical,
and historical implications.

In contemporary criticism, the phrase refers to conversations and studies of works of

art that are valued for creating societal attitudes and for their vision of universal truths rather
than for their inherent, formal merits. Plato saw the visible world as a copy of the ideal forms,
which were the only ones that existed. As a result, art was nothing more than an imitation of
an imitation, and it was valuable only since it oriented the soul toward the real—that is, Truth,
Beauty, or the Good.

Aristtole (384 - 322 bc):

According to Aristotle, Poets are universal, historians, and philosophers, and give
expression to common things in a higher form. He continues, Writers of greater dignity
imitated the noble actions of noble heroes: the less dignified of writers limited the actions of
inferior men. His famous works include poetics.

Philip Sidney (1554-1586):

He is frequently recognized as a model of the well-rounded "Renaissance man": his

gifts were multifaceted, including not just poetry and refined scholarship, but also
statesmanship and military duty. He was born into an aristocratic family, was knighted, and
held official positions such as governor of Flushing in the Netherlands. He was active in Queen
Elizabeth I's battle against Spain and died from a wound at the age of 32. His associates
included the poet Edmund Spenser; he authored a pastoral novel, The Countess of Pembroke's
Arcadia (1581), and he was innovative in writing a sonnet cycle in English, Astrophel, and
Stella (1581-1582), influenced by the Italian poet Petrarch.

In many ways, Sidney's Apology for Poetry (1580-1581) is a foundational book of

literary criticism. It is not just a defense, but also one of the most praised poetics treatises of its
day. While its ideas are not novel, it is the first English-language synthesis of the various
strands and concerns of Renaissance literary criticism, drawing on Aristotle, Horace, and more
recent writers such as Boccaccio and Julius Caesar Scaliger. It presents questions that would
interest literary critics in several languages until the late eighteenth century, such as the value
and purpose of poetry, the nature of imitation, and the idea of nature. An attack on poetry
entitled The School of Abuse, written in 1579 by a Puritan priest named Stephen Gosson,
prompted Sidney to write the Apologie as a defense of poetry. As previously stated, Sidney
rejects Gosson's Protestant attack on courtly pleasure, thereby upholding poetry as a noble
aristocratic pursuit.

John Dryden (1659 -1700):

He mainly focuses on religion, politics, morality, society, love, and honor are among
the main themes in Dryden's works. His major works include:

• The Conquest of Granada (1670)

• Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
• All for Love, or The World Well Lost (1678)
• The Spanish Friar (1681)
• Amphitryon (1690)
• The Hind and the Panther (1687)
• Aureng-zebe (1675)
• Tyrannick Love (1669)
• Mac Flecknoe (1682)
• Annus Mirabilis (1667)