An Apology for Poetry :
An Apology for Poetry (or, The Defence of Poesy) is a work of literary criticism by Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney. He wrote it in response to Stephen Gosson’s The School of Abuse ( 1579), an abusive puritan treatise attacking the English stage. But Sidney primarily addresses more general objections to poetry, such as those of Plato. The essence of his defense is that poetry, by combining the liveliness of history with the ethical focus of philosophy, is more effective than both history and philosophy. His classicism, Renaissance mindset and originality become evident in his analysis and explanations. He is essentially “a theorist of the exuberant imagination”( Wimsatt and Brooks) who felt within himself ” the planet-like music of poetry”.
Dealing with minor objections against poetry, Sidney says that those persons
, who satirize poetry and poets to show their importance, are no better than clowns and jesters. He further defends the use of verse and rhyme by saying that they are not compulsory parts of poetry and they add to the charm of poetry. Sidney proceeds to refute the four serious charges against poetry brought by Gosson. The first objection is that a man can better spend his time acquiring more fruitful knowledge than reading poetry. It is nothing but a sheer waste of time. The second charge is that poetry is adversary to truth and the mother of lies. The third charge is that poetry is the nurse of abuse. It infects the readers with many vicious desires and sinful fancies. The fourth charge against poetry is that Plato had banished it from his Republic. It possesses no noble quality and Plato rightly understood its dangers and harmful effects on his ideal and truthful Republic. Poetry should be banned in order to avail a healthy mind and state.
In connection with the first charge against poetry, Sidney says that poetry is the noblest kind of learning because it teaches us virtue and it moves our minds to pursue virtuous action. There is no other branch of learning which can perform these two functions more effectively than poetry. Poetry 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. According to him, the poet imitates not the brazen world of Nature but the golden world of the Idea itself. Here he differs with the Aristotelian theory of imitation and comes closer to Plato’s idealization. Poetry is not so much an art of imitation as of invention or creation. Sidney makes poetry what Plato wished it to be – a vision of the idea itself and a force for the perfection of the soul. But we see Sidney the classicist when he values poetry not for its delight, but for its moral effect and practical utility in actual life. His criticism missed the truth that “The first sign of literary appreciation is to feel”(Atkins).
As for the second charge, Sidney denies that poetry is the mother of lies. Of all the writers in this world the poet is the least liar. He says, an astronomer, a geometrician and a physician may prove to be liars due to faulty measurements, false propositions and wrong medicine respectively. A historian may falsely affirm many things because there is no guarantee that his sayings are absolutely true. But the poet never lies because he never affirms anything. He is so unsure about telling the truth that before beginning a poem, he invokes the blessings of the Muses. The poet does not describe what is or what is not; he describes what should be or what should not be. Even the characters created by poets cannot be accused of falsehood since they are not palpable but allegorical.
Sidney then turns to the third charge about poetry abusing men’s wit. It is accused of corrupting people and leading them towards lustful love and sinful actions. Comedy weakens the minds of the reader because of the abundance of amorous conceits. Lyrical poetry is equally responsible in this respect because of the passion of love, which it depicts. Even elegiac poetry, laments the absence of a mistress. Sidney replies that even if love of beauty or passion is regarded as a sin, it is not the flaw of poetry itself but the fault of certain poets who have written that kind of poetry. Poetry never corrupts men’s minds but men’s minds corrupt poetry. Poetry ,like painting, can infect or elevate the minds of the people by depicting unworthy objects or noble scenes. Poetry, like medicine, can prove extremely harmful if misused.
Sidney considers the fourth charge to be the weightiest because it comes from the great philosopher Plato. Plato banished poets from his ideal Republic and that’s why he is regarded as an anti-poetic. But Sidney says that Plato himself was highly poetical in his writings. He should not have accused poetry of being immoral as his Republic itself permitted promiscuous sexual relationships. Plato objected to poetry because poetry depicted the gods as lustful and revengeful and also as suffering from many other vices. He actually banished the abuse or misuse of poetry and its inability to produce the whole truth, not poetry itself. He regarded poetry as the product of divine inspiration and therefore was not an adversary of poets but their patron. Sidney further proves the dignity of poetry by the fact that all the Alexanders, all the Caesars, and all the Scipios were supporters of poetry.
Thus, Sidney dismisses all the charges and establishes poetry to be the greatest among all branches of learning : “I still and utterly deny that there is, sprung out of earth a more fruitful knowledge (than poetry).” His criticism is coloured in the classical hue in its emphasis on morality. But unlike Aristotle, he is not concerned with morality alone. Like Horace he glorifies the delight of poetry and sums up its function as both delight and instruction – the same idea which Dr Johnson expresses later : ” Poetry instructs through pleasure”( Preface to Shakespeare).
