An Apology for Poetry

Sidney’s An Apology for Poetry is a spirited defence of poetry against all the charges laid
against it since Plato. He considers poetry as the oldest of all branches of learning and
establishes its superiority. Poetry, according to Sidney, is superior to philosophy by its charm,
to history by its universality, to science by its moral end, to law by its encouragement of human
rather than civic goodness. Sidney’s Apology was also written in response to Stephen Gosson’s
School of Abuse who was misled by Sidney’s staunchly Protestant and anti-Catholic political
associations. Apology was written in the sixteenth century renaissance literary climate that was
concerned about aesthetic problems regarding the object and purpose of poetry itself. Thus,
unlike Thomas Lodge’s Defence of Poetry (1580), Sidney’s Apology is much more than a reply
to Gosson. He proceeds to give an argument for the value of poetry and its social significance
also.
Sidney, following Aristotle’s concept of Mimesis, defines Poetry as an art of imitation, “a
speaking picture” with the aim to teach and delight. However, both Plato as well as Aristotle
has drawn parallel between poetry and painting. In Ars Poetica Horace mentions it as “ut
picture poesis”. Taking the cue from Horace, Sidney speaks of poetry as the speaking picture.
The poet, like other men of learning, imitates the objects of nature. But this imitation is not the
slavish imitation as Plato views, rather it is a creative imitation.
The poet employs his creative faculty, imagination, and style of presentation to decorate the
raw materials of nature. “Nature never set forth the Earth in so rich a tapestry as divers poets
have done….; her world is brazen, the poets only deliver a golden.” According to Sidney, all
other human arts are subordinate to nature; poetry alone transcends nature, since the poet is a
maker. In Defence of Poetry, Shelley remarks, “None deserves the name of Creator, but God
and the poet”. As God, the creator, creates his own universe, the poet too has his own world.
Thus, to attack poetry is to attack the roots of culture, to attack poetry is to attack the
universality of poetry itself.
Stephen Gosson makes some serious charges on poetry namely that there being many other
more fruitful knowledges, a man may better spend his time in them than in this. Secondly, that
it is the mother of lies. Thirdly, that poetry is the nurse of abuse. At last, that Plato had rightly
banished the poets from his ideal world.
Sidney gallantly defends all these charges in his Apology for Poetry. Poetry is the source of
knowledge and a civilizing force, for Sidney. Gosson attacks on poetry saying that it corrupts
the people and it is the waste of time, but Sidney says “that no learning is so good as that which
teacheth and moveth to virtue,” and that nothing can both teach and amuse so much as poetry
does. In essay societies, poetry was the main source of education. He remembers ancient Greek
society that respected poets. The poets are always to be looked up. So, poetry is not wastage of
time.
To the second charge, Sidney answers that poet that “of all writers under the sun the poet is the
least liar.” The poet does not lie because he never affirms that his fiction is true and can never
lie. Their aim being “to tell not what is or is not, but what should or should not be.” The poetic
truths are ideal and universal. Therefore, poetry cannot be a mother of lies.
Sidney rejects that poetry is the source of abuses. To this charge Sidney replies that “poetry
does not abuse man's wit, it is man's wit that abuseth poetry.” Abuses are more nursed by
philosophy and history than by poetry, by describing battles, bloodshed, violence etc. On the
contrary, poetry helps to maintain morality and peace by avoiding such violence and
bloodsheds. Moreover, it brings light to knowledge.
Sidney is rather perplexed at the last charge, namely Plato's rejection of poetry. Sidney views
that Plato in his Republic wanted to banish the abuse of poetry not the poets. Plato's objection
was directed towards “those wrong opinions of the Deity.” In Ion, Plato gives to high and
rightly divine commendation to poetry. His description of the poet as `a light winged and sacred
thing' in that dialogue reveals his attitude to poetry. Therefore, readers should therefore think
of Plato not as the poet’s “adversary,” but as his “patron.”
Sidney notes that poetry was the first of the arts, coming even before philosophy and history.
Indeed, many of the famous classical philosophers and historians wrote in poetry, and even
those who wrote in prose, like Plato and Herodotus, wrote poetically—that is, they used poetic
style to come up with philosophical allegories, in the case of Plato, or to supply vivid historical
details, in the case of Herodotus. Sidney claims that without borrowing from poetry, historians
and philosophers would never have become popular. (only for phil and his)
The Romans called the poet 'Vates' which means a seer or a prophet, and in the classical world,
poetry was considered to convey important knowledge about the future. Sidney gives examples
of the oracle of Delphos, the prophesies of Sybylls, and the Psalms of Bible. In Greek, the word
‘Poietes’ means 'Maker' or Creator.' The poet is a 'maker', like God, and can create new and
more perfect realities using their imaginations. The divine nature of poetry is further suggested
by remark of Sydney, “poets are born, not made.” Eliot believed that “Poesy must not be drawn
by the ears; it must be gently led, or rather it must lead” which helps to affirm that it is a divine
gift and no human skill. (phil and his)
The poets were the first light-bring to ignorance. The influence of poetry was a civilising one.
Barbarous nations lose their wild temper and become good. It breeds virtue, the inculturation
of which makes man cultured. Poets from the first have flourished in all quarters of the world,
even among Barbarians, the Turks and the Red Indians. The earliest Greek philosophers and
Historians were in reality born poets. (Phil and His)
Sidney mounts a courtroom-style for imaginative writing, following a traditional structure
according to which, after an introduction, he articulates the qualities that make poetry superior
to philosophy and history. Drawing on examples from Greek and Roman classics—which
would have given his argument extra authority in the highly traditional world of 16th-century
England—Sidney argues that all good writing is poetical, because poetical writing is the most
vivid and therefore the most able to teach and delight the reader. In ancient times, there was no
real distinction made between philosophy, history, and poetry, and the best ancient writers
wrote poetically. Many ancient philosophers wrote poetry, such as Solon and Plato, whose
dialogues are decorated with the “flowers of poetry.” The best historians, such as Herodotus,
“stole, or usurped, of poetry” their descriptions of human feelings, granular historical detail,
and the long speeches. (only for Phil and his)
Poetry is superior to both philosophy and history because it teaches virtue and urges human
beings to live virtuously. The philosopher teaches only by precept, and the historian teaches
only by example but the poet conduces most to virtue because he employs both the methods.
The philosopher conveys virtue and vice in an abstract manner without clarity or beauty of
style, the bare principles of morality. However, the poet conveys virtue by a concrete portrayal
of virtuous characters thus making him superior. The philosopher, moreover, teaches the
learned only; but the poet teaches all. and so is, in Plutarch's phrase, "the right popular
philosopher." The philosopher only seems to promise delight, and moves men to unknown
virtues. But even if the philosopher excels the poet in teaching, he cannot move his readers to
virtuous action as the poet can. (Phil and his)
On the other hand, the historian teaches virtue by showing experiences of past ages, but has to
remain tied down to what has actually happened and thus the example he depicts does not draw
any conclusion. However, a poet can mould the facts of life in any way he likes so he has a
greater freedom than the historian. The poet improves upon history, he gives examples of vice
and virtue for human imitation: he makes virtue succeed and vice fail, and this history can but
seldom do. Poetry does not imitate nature; it is the reader who imitates the example of
perfection presented to him by the poet. He is thus made virtuous. Poetry, therefore, conduces
to virtue, the end of all learning, better than any other art or science. (Phil and his)
Finally, poetry is a more effective teaching tool than history or philosophy because it compels
the reader to learn virtue through its vivid examples. Sidney explains that “moving”—that is,
delighting the reader in some way – for “who will be taught, if he be not moved with desire to
be taught?” Sidney argues that poetry not only shows the path to virtue but also makes it
appealing, drawing the reader in. Therefore, poetry “doth draw the mind more effectively than
any other art doth.” Poetry is thus particularly effective for educating children since it
sugarcoats moral learning, like a “medicine of cherries.” (only for Phil and his)
Sidney asserts that poetry is the “monarch” of the arts because of its ability to unite the best
parts of philosophy and history in vivid, pleasing, and memorable examples. These examples
teach readers about virtue sometimes without them even knowing. All of the best philosophy
and history, and even the Bible, draws on poetry to teach the reader through delighting them,
just as Sidney’s “An Apology for Poetry” makes its compelling case through vivid prose, an
effective rhetorical structure, and memorable examples. (only for Phil and his–conclusion)
After establishing the place of poetry among all other arts and branches of learning, Sidney
divides it into three broad types. They are religious poetry, philosophical poetry and true poetry.
Sidney also points out that rhyme, or verse or metre in not necessary in poetry. Religious poetry
sings the praises of God and as such it cannot lead anyone astray. Philosophical poetry imparts
knowledge, it is the “sweet good of sweetly uttered knowledge.” The third kind of poetry is
further subdivided into heroic, lyric, tragic, comic, satiric, and pastoral. (Renaissance
Criticism)
The Pastoral poetry treats of the beauty of the simple life, and sometimes, of the miseries of
the people under hard Lords. Elegiac poetry deals with the weakness of mankind and
wretchedness of the world. It should evoke pity rather than blame. Satiric poetry laughs at folly,
and iambic poetry tries to unmask villainy. Comedy is an imitation of the common errors of
our life presented in a ridiculous manner. It helps men keeping away from such errors. Tragedy,
which opens the greatest wounds in our hearts, teaches the uncertainty of this world. Nobody
can resist the ‘sweet violence' of a tragedy. The lyric which gives moral precepts and soars to
the heavens in singing the praises of the Almighty, cannot be displeasing. Among all these
Sidney considers epic poetry as “the best and most accomplished kind of poetry.” In it heroic
and moral goodness is most effectively portrayed. It presents “pictures of heroic men and heroic
deeds which in turn inspires men to heroic action.” (only for Renaissance Criticism)
An Apology for Poetry also shows Sidney’s likes and dislikes with regard to Elizabethan poetry
and drama. He mentions Spenser’s ‘The Shepherd’s Calendar’ with respect. He frankly
acknowledges the emotional sway of the old ballad of ‘Chevy Chase’ and his veneration for
Chaucer’s poetry. In his criticism of English dramas, Sidney is not so generous. He was under
the influence of Aristotle’s theory of tragedy and Seneca’s practice of revenge tragedy.
Naturally he protests the lack of unity in academic tragedies. The only exception is
“Gorboduc”. He also objects to the absurdities of the English stage where on one side Africa
and on the other Asia may be represented and where in an hour a youth may grow from
childhood to old age. Sidney is particularly harsh on the mixture of the comic and tragic
elements in tragi-comedy. He scoffs at the idea of the clatter of wooden swords at the end of
tragedies and the mixing of clowns with Kings. “Never did the ancients” ‘like the English’,
“match hornpipes with funerals”. (Renaissance Criticism)
His Apology is an epitome of Renaissance criticism. In every one of his views, on the nature
and function of poetry, on the three unities, on Tragedy and Comedy, on Diction and metre, he
represents contemporary trends. His work reflects the influence of Aristotle and Plato, of
Scaliger and Minturno, and other classical, Italian and French critics: He constantly cites the
authority of Aristotle, Horace, and the Italian critics of the Renaissance in support of his views.
But this does not mean that it is a mere summary of classical and Italian doctrines. Sidney’s
originality lies in the skill with which he has drawn upon, selected, arranged and adapted earlier
ideas, and then has put forth his own ideas, independently arrived at. He makes use of (a) Italian
critics, (b) classical critics, Plato and Aristotle, (c) Roman critics, Horace and Plutarch (d) he
also shows the influence of medieval concept of tragedy, and (e) his didactic approach to poetry,
is typically Renaissance approach. (only for Renaissance Criticism)
An Apology for Poetry concludes with a strong claim of the greatness of poetry as an object fit
for veneration/ respect. He blesses those who love and enjoy the charms of poetry, and
denounces those who have no sensibility to appreciate it. Sidney’s main objective in the treatise
is to show the true value of poetry, and he does it by presenting a picture of the past. In the
Apology, he has (a) boldly faced the traditional objections against poetry, (b) he has claimed
for poetry, a high place in intellectual and social life, (c) by his unique vindication of poetry,
he has restored it to something of its ancient prestige and meaning, and (d) by his defence of
poetry, he brought enlightenment and assurance to his own generation. His manner of
presentation, his freshness and vigour, are characteristically his. His style has dignity,
simplicity, concreteness, and a racy humour and irony. (Conclusion, Renaissance Criticism)
Apology is an illuminating piece of literary criticism; as well as a fine piece of creative
literature. Dramatic criticism in England began with Sidney. To him goes the credit of having
formulated, for the first time, more or less in a systematic manner, the general principles of
dramatic art. As a French critic writes, Sidney's Defence of Poetry, "gives us an almost
complete theory of neo-classical tragedy, a hundred years before the 'Art Poetique' of Boileau."
Sidney is unique as a critic. He is judicial, creative and original. Hence the value of his work
is for all times to come. (Conclusion, Renaissance Criticism)