Literary Criticism

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4. Sidney’s ‘Apology for Poetry’ deals with two ideas
* Poetry is of divine origin
* There is social utility for poetry
*It is
*It is
a cradle of civilization
a channel of divine power
*Poetry can teach and delight
*It can surpass the virtue of history and philosophy

5. Sidney’s arguments in defense of poetry
It is a cradle of civilization
• Poetry is the first light giver to ignorance that
flourished before any other art or science
The earliest philosophers and historians who were
poets.
The first law, Greek/Roman philosophers are
written in verse
•
•

6. It is a channel of divine power
• Poetry is divine and as well as prophetic
•In the Holy Bible, for praising
Solomon use verses
• The new idea created by poet
withstand the test of time and
God and
can
according to
Sidney in essence poetry is divine

7. POETRY CAN TEACH AND DELIGHT
•The end of poetry is to teach and please ,
hence it is usable to society.
• The imitations of poetry are able to delight
and teach ; they provides perfect in disputable
examples of good and bad.
• Poetry
vices of
virtuous
inspires every individual to discard the
the villains and imitate the noble and
action of heroes.

8. Poetry can surpass the virtues of history and
philosophy
•Poetry unites universal truth of
examples of history.
philosophy with concrete
•Philosophy can only produce concrete universal truth through
examples. They don’t have the power to implant themselves in our
memory and judgment.
• history is bound to recount a particular event just as it was ,
even if that event debases virtue and encourages vices.
• poet is free to alter the particular event so as to a more
universally expected story.

9. In second section Sidney refute four arguments
leveled against poetry made by
essay ‘T he School of Abuse’
Stephen Gossan in his
Arguments against poetry
• Poetry is unprofitable
•Poetry is the mother of lie
• poetry leads to sinful behavior
• Plato kicked the poets out of his republic

10. Poetry is unprofitable , there are many better ways
to spend our time
• there is no other
than poetry
branches of learning more fruitful
• poetry is the most fruitful of all knowledge and it has
the power to teach and please and also moves
readers to virtuous action.
its
• poetry is far better and effective than history and
philosophy.

11. Poetry is the mother of lie
• poetry does not affirm anything as truth
• poets never lie , for they never claim
their poem to be the truth
• in poetry lies are not deliberately stated
, therefore the poet can not
of lying
be accused

12. POETRY LEADS TO SINFUL BEHAVIOR
•Poetry in itself is noble and that it cannot be
of any moral corruption
the cause
• poetry aims at inspiring and elevating souls
• it is the abuse of poetry , not poetry itself that leads to
sin

13. PLATO KICKED THE POETS FROM HIS REPUBLIC
•Sidney does not agree with the statement at all
• Plato had banished ludicrous poets and not poetry itself
• Plato himself
highly poetical
drew much genuine knowledge from poetry and was
in his writings
• Plato himself
inspiration
in his work ‘ion’, affirms that poets speak by divine