Discuss Sidnevs Apology for Poetry as an

epitome of Renaissance criticism.

December 16, 2010 neoenglish Practical Criticism
Sidneys Apologie for Poetrie (1580-81) was intended as a reply to Stephen Gossons
School of Abus (1579) Gosson had inducted poetry on four counts : that a man coaid
employ his time more usefully than in poetry that it is the mother of lies, that it is the
nurse of abuseramt that, Plato had rightly banished poets from his ideal state. Sidney in
his Apology replies to each of these charges, drawing copiously, in the absence of critical
authorities in England, on the ancient classics and the Italian writers of the
Renaissance: in particular, on Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, among the Greeks,
Virgil, Horace and Ovid, among the Romans; and Minturno, Scaliger, and Castelvetro,
among the Italians. Yet it is an original document.
Sidneys Apology is not only a reply to Gosson but much more. It is a spirited
defence of poetry against all the charges that had been laid at its door since Plato. He
says that poetry is the oldest of all branches of learning; it 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. Among its various species the
pastoral pleases by its helpful comments on contemporary events and life in general, the
elegy by its kindly pity for the weakness of mankind and the wretchedness of the world,
the satire by its pleasant ridicule of folly, the comedy by its ridiculous imitation of the
common errors of life, the tragedy by its moving demonstration of the uncertainty of
this world, and upon how weak foundations guilden roofs are builded, the lyric by its
sweep praise of all that is praiseworthy, and the epic by its representation of the loftiest
truths in the loftiest manner. Neither in whole nor in parts, thus, does poetry deserve
the abuse hurled on it by its detractors.
Hence Sidney says that a man might better spend his time in poetry. The poet is not
a liar; the poet uses veracity or falsehood to arrive at a higher truth. It is not poetry that
abuses mans wit but mans wit that abuses poetry. Plato found fault not with poetry,
which he considered divinely inspired, but with the poets of his time who abused it to
misrepresent the gods.
Sidneys Apology is a veritable epitome of the literary criticism of Italian
Renaissance; and so thoroughly it is imbued with this spirit, that no other work,
Italian, French, or English can be said to give so complete and so noble a conception of
the temper and the principles of Renaissance criticism. Sidney is the herald of Neoclassicism in England. He is essentially a theorist of the exuberant imagination. He fuses
the romantic and the classical tendencies. His Defence of Poetry is the earliest attempt
to deal with the poetic art, practically and not theoretically. His judgements are based on
contemporary literature and show ample good sense and sound scholarship. It is not
merely empty, abstract theorising : apart from the unities, his judgements are not
governed to and great extent by rules and theories. His ultimate test is of a practical
kind, i.e., the power of poetry to move to virtuous action. He has thus contributed to the
appreciation of literature in the concrete.

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Sidneys work is comprehensive enough to incorporate all the existing forms of

poetry in his age. He gives his views on the nature and function of poetry, on the three
unities, on tragedy and comedy, and on diction and metre. It is the pioneer in dramatic
criticism. As a French critic has observed. Sidneys Defence of Poetry gives us an
almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy, a hundred years before the Art
Poetique of Boileau.
Sidneys Apologie for Poetrie has rightly been valued as one of the outstanding
performaces in English criticism and one which inaugurated a new phase in critical
history. Outmoded though some of the critical opinions contained init now are, yet it
provides a singularly lofty and noble introduction to the long line of English treatises on
the art of poetry. Its significance lies in the fact that it comes at a time when most of the
gentlemen shunned the name of being called a poet. Sidneys vindication of poetry and
his serious treatment of the poetic art enthused a new confidence in them and poetry
came to be looked upon as a noble and worthy pursuit, no more a laughing stock of
children. Sidney boldly faced the traditional objections to poetry and he tried to dispel
the mists of prejudice that had gathered around it. His approach was not only negative
but he positively tried to bring out the value of poetry in the social and intellectual life of
society. He presented his arguments in the i lost lucid and persuasive manner. He was
treating poetry as a poet with illuminating insight and inspiring enthusiasm.
Nowhere else, says Professor Atkins, do we find the same happy mingling of the
ideal and the practical, the same blend of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony,
of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism; or again, that unstudied simplicity
and grace which everywhere pervade the work.
What was precisely the influence of this treatise on Sidneys contemporaries is only
a matter of conjecture. It was circulated in manuscript among his friends and other
literary circles during his life and was soon quoted in the best critical placesin
Puttenhams Arte of 1589, in Haringtons Apologie of 1598. Its influence on Ben
Jonson, Shakespeare and other dramatists is quite obvious. It gives incentive to creative
writing. When this treatise was written, English literature stood at the lowest ebb. In
less than twenty-five years after its publication, it became one of the glories of the world.
Apart from its influence on the creative writers of the Elizabethan age. Sidneys
treatise showed the direction of later criticism, the neo-classical as well as the
romantic. The neo-classical critics made a fetish of his views on the observance of the
unities, and the romantic critics like Shelley drew inspiration from its fountain for
supporting their theory of creative imagination Even to the modern readers it
continues to charm with its idealism, its sanity, its humour, and its grace. (Atkins).
The Apologie is a kind of formal beginning of literary theorizing in England, and a
brilliant enough one. The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental
criticism of the century but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well.
(Wimsatt and Brooks). Sidney was well-acquainted with the classical Greek and
Roman critics. But it all matters little. Sidney wrote, not a pedants encyclopedia, but
a gentlemans essay. (Wimsatt and Brooks).
POINTS TO REMEMBER
Written in 1680-81 as a reply to Gossons School of Abuse, Sidneys Apology is an
epitome of Renaissance criticism, the foundation on which the castle of the future
criticism of Sidneys age rests.

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A spirited defence of poetry on the whole; poetrys oldest branch of knowledge,

superior to philosophy, history and science.
Shows Sidneys good sense and sound scholarship; a great contribution towards the
appreciation of literature; gives an almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy.
A blend of the ideal and the practical, of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony,
of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism. (Atkins)
Its deep influence and circulation. Influence on Ben Jonson and Shakespeare and
Shelley quite apparent.
The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the country
but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well.