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Puneeth Kodavatiganti

Ms. Smith

AP English 11

1 January 2011

Rhetorical Analysis: Defense of Poesie

In his essay, “The Defense of Poesy,” Sir Phillip Sidney defends poetry against its attackers

and places poetry in an advantage over philosophy. Sidney emphasizes the importance of the role of

poets and their poetry along with the moral values they establish as he asserts, “Among the Romanes

a Poet was called Vates, which is as much as diviner, foreseer, or Prophet, as by conjoyned words...

hart- ravishing knowledge (Sidney 3).” “The Defense of Poesy”, which was originally published

under two different titles, is a thorough and vigorous argument which pertains to the essence of

poetry in life and its role in everyday matters. By appealing to his audience through the use of simple

yet stylistic speech, and the citing of classical authorities and textual support, Sidney is able to create

a subtle, albeit well supported and effective argument in favor of poetry.

In his preface of the essay, Sidney employs an indirect approach to his subject, seeking to

capture the good will of his audience with a polite and modest anecdote. In doing so, he is able to

restrain their minds from wandering off and make his argument more effective. Knowing that

horsemanship may be of an interest to readers in general, he begins the essay with a personal

account, placing the readers in a jovial, yet receptive mood. “He said souldiers were the noblest

estate of mankind and horseman the noblest of soldiers...no earthly thing bred such wonder to a

Prince, as to be a good horseman... me to have wished myselfe a horse (1).” Sidney constantly

conveys a humble personality that secures both admiration and respect from the readers who are
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made to feel an intellectual equal with the high-bred and highly regarded creature. In the quote

mentioned above, Sidney's profound ability to draw his audience's focus can be witnessed as he

astutely correlates between soldiers and horses. When Sidney states, “Souldiers were the noblest

estate of mankind, and horseman the noblest of souldiers... (1),” he is indirectly referring to the

connection between souldiers to mankind and poetry to literature. Soldiers fight in wars and risk

their lives in order to protect what they love whether it be people or possessions, thus they are noble;

in comparison, poetry is the “noblest” of all literature in its ability to create a golden world for the

readers. Furthermore, by placing himself in the situation with a personal chronicle, Sidney is able to

reach his audience with an emotional touch as he states, “if I had not beene a peece of a Logician

before I came to him, I thinke he would have perswaded me to have wished myselfe a horse (1).” In

doing so, he is able to spark a feeling within the audience making them give into siding with his

argument. Without the use of his modest comparison or his emotional touch to appeal to his

audience, Sidney's argument would not have been portrayed as effectively, for poetry, or rather a

plain argument without appeals, is a banal subject. Furthermore, Sidney is able to break the barrier of

choosing sides with his use of logical statements throughout the text. For example, he claims, “In

Turkey, besides their lawgiving devines, they have no other writers but Poets. In our neighbor

Countrey Ireland, where truly learning goes verie bare, yet are their Poets held in a devout reverence

(2).” This statement brings forth a battle of logic as Sidney portrays how highly poets are respected

in other nations. When he states,”besides their lawgiving devines, they have no other writers but

Poets,” or “yet are their Poets held in a devout reverance,” Sidney almost resembles the

characteristics of poets to that of god or some divine power. However, at the same time, defends his

bold statements by asserting, “Only the poet...in making things either better than Nature (4).” Sidney

argues that only nature has the ability to create “real” men; however, poets have the ability to create
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fictional heroes. As he compares between god, nature, and poets, Sidney is able to get the claim

across that God created poets as a representation of himself and the great inspiration of poets' comes

from the divine breath of god. Sidney is able to persuade the reader that he does not place poetry as

an equivalent or greater than religion; rather, religion or god brings out the greatness in poetry.

Because Sidney wished to reach to a vast majority of his expected audience, he did not want to insult

and religious followers, Puritans in particular, who might view his comments as bold and detoxifying

to their beliefs. Thus, he carefully makes disclaimers designed to placate sensitive audience members

and disregard his claims as blasphemous. Through attracting the reader with logical appeals by

asserting poetry as a divine power, and then by defending his comments with stating that god or

religion brings out the best in poetry, Sidney is able to effectively satisfy all parts of his audience.

Sidney's profound use of stylistic speech is clearly observant in his essay as he cleverly uses it to

appeal to the audience and make his argument in favor of poetry more affective.

Not only does Sidney attempt to strengthen his argument and make it more affective through

the use of stylistic speech, he also brilliantly cites classical and biblical authorities along with textual

evidence in order to better support his case. In an attempt to attract the reader's focus to his argument

with the support of philosophical citations, Sidney states, “This did so notably shew itself, that

Philosophers of Greece durst not a long time appear to the world, but under the mask of poets. So

Thales, Empedocles, and Parmenides, sang their natural Philosophie in verses. So did Pithagoras and

Phocillides, their morall Councels... (2).” Philosophies are one of the most believed things in society,

and philosophers are some of the most respected human beings in history. By stating,

“Philosophers... long time appear... under mask of poets,” Sidney strikes the audience with historical

evidence of classical authorities. Sidney asserts that many well know philosophers appeared at first

as poets as they wrote their beliefs in verses and poetic form. In doing so, he attempts to make the
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audience visualize poetry as a sacred art that has been prevalently thriving since the beginning of

literature. As Sidney uses classical authorities in order to make his argument more affective, he also

uses logical appeal to bait the audience; thus, leading back to his use of stylistic speech. By

combining stylistic speech and logical appeal through the use of classical authorities, he is able to

create a strong mood in favor of his argument. Moreover, Sidney also applies citations of historical

texts to greater strengthen his argument. “Historiographers, although their lippes sound of things

done, and veritie be written in their foreheads... So herodotus entitles his Historie, by the name of the

nine Muses, and both he and all the rest that followed him, either stale, or usurped of Poetire... (2).”

Being one of the strongest examples of textual support in the essay, this statement is very important

in making a logical appeal to the audience. By comparing historiographers to the text of the nine

Muses, Sidney is once again able to claim that poetry is a sacred form of text and still lives on in

today’s forms of literature. Thus, making it seem like a immortal, divine power. Although Sidney's

use of classical authorities and citations of textual evidence all tie in with the use of stylistic speech

to better strengthen his argument, they still individually play a major role as they help make the

argument more effective and appeal to the public through logic.

By appealing to his audience through the use of simple yet stylistic speech, and the citing of

classical authorities and textual support, Sidney is able to create a subtle, albeit well supported and

effective argument in favor of poetry. In his essay, Sidney attempted, and succeeded, in

strengthening his argument and appeal to a vast amount of his expected audience by using logical

and emotional appeals. By beginning his composition with a humorous anecdote in order to grab the

attention of his audience, and using logical evidence to sway the mindset of his audience to his

outlook, Sidney does a marvelous job in effectively supporting his argument in favor of poetry.
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Works Cited

Sydney, Sir Phillips. "A defence of Poesie."SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS 1-4. 4 Jan 20011

<http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/def91.htm>.