30 Questions
In which year was Philip Sidney's 'An Apology for Poetry' first published?
1595
Who dedicated 'The School of Abuse' to Philip Sidney in 1579?
Stephen Gosson
What are the three general kinds of poetry, according to Philip Sidney?
Religious, Philosophical, and Imaginative
Who wrote 'A Defence of Poetry' in a Romantic strain?
Percy Bysshe Shelley
What is the main essence of Philip Sidney's defense of poetry?
Poetry is more effective than history and philosophy in rousing its readers to virtue.
What is the title of William Stigant's essay in which he writes about Philip Sidney's 'A Defence of Poetry'?
Sir Philip Sidney
What does Shelley believe poetry does to the mind?
awakens and enlarges it with new combinations of thought
What is Sidney's view of the poet's role in society?
The poet is separate from society
Who is the playwright and poet that Philip Sidney addresses in his essay 'An Apology for Poetry'?
Stephen Gosson
What is the focus of Wordsworth's poetry?
Moments recollected in tranquility
What is Sidney's notion of 'fore-conceit'?
A conception of the work before it is written
What is the central premise of Sidney's Apology?
Poetry is an art of imitation
What is the significance of Sidney's life and writings?
They are a testament to the power of poetry
What is the purpose of Sidney's Apology?
To defend the nobility of poetry
What was Sidney's significant contribution to the genre of literary criticism?
A philosophical defense of poetry's ancient and indispensable place in society
What is the main difference between Sidney's view of poetry and drama?
Drama is more concerned with unity of place, while poetry is more concerned with the manner of conveyance
What is the purpose of Sidney's use of metaphor and allegory in his Apology?
To conceal and reveal his position and avoid censorship
What is the significance of Sidney's reverence for the poet as soldier?
It is a reflection of his own experience as a soldier
What is the structure of Sidney's Apology?
A judicial oration for the defense
What is the main concern of Sidney's contemporaries in regards to drama?
The growing contempt for the values of the emergent consumer culture
What is the significance of Sidney's use of classical oration in his Apology?
It is a tool to build his argument and defend poetry
What literary device does Sidney employ throughout his work?
The enlarging of a conceit
Who does Sidney defend against in his work?
The poet-whippers
What is the key concept that Sidney attends to in his work?
Memory
What is the primary function of poetry, according to Sidney?
To delight and entertain
What does Sidney argue that the poet makes no claims of?
Literal truth
What is the central issue that Sidney's work addresses?
The problem of censorship
What is the significance of the term 'fictional' in Sidney's work?
It indicates that poetry is not bound by facts
What is the primary concern of Sidney's defense of fiction?
The value of poetry in a world of strife
What is the key theme that underlies Sidney's work?
The role of poetry in a world of strife and contingency
Study Notes
Philip Sidney's "An Apology for Poetry"
- Written in approximately 1580 and published in 1595, after Sidney's death
- Motivated by Stephen Gosson's attack on the English stage, "The School of Abuse", dedicated to Sidney in 1579
- Integrates classical and Italian precepts on fiction
Defense of Poetry
- Combines the liveliness of history with the ethical focus of philosophy to rouse readers to virtue
- Divides poetry into three kinds:
- Religious, imitating the excellencies of God
- Philosophical
- Imaginative, written by "right poets" who "teach and delight"
Influence
- Influenced subsequent English literary criticism, including Percy Bysshe Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry"
- Shelley's work analyzes the essence of poetry and its existence, development, and operation on the human mind
- Sidney's view of poets as separate from society, creating a separate reality, influenced Romantic notions of perception, imagination, and understanding
Sidney's Notions on Poetry
- Poet as creator, inventing and shaping the materials of nature
- "Fore-conceit", a conception of the work existing in the poet's mind before writing
- Poetry can create things better than nature or forms that never existed in nature
- Poet as mediator between transcendent forms and historical actuality
- Theory of metaphoric language, using painting and portraiture as motifs
- Language use suggestive of semiotics, with an analogy through universal correspondences
Significance
- One of the most important contributions to literary theory during the Renaissance
- Advocates for poetry's place in an aristocratic state, addressing literary and national identity
- Responds to Gosson's attack on imaginative literature
- Defines poetry's nobility as its power to move readers to virtuous action
- Influenced literary criticism, emphasizing poetry's ancient and indispensable place in society, its mimetic nature, and its ethical function
Explore Philip Sidney's 1595 essay on literary criticism, written in defense of poetry. Understand the historical context and motivations behind this influential work.
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