The Defense of Poesy
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- written c. 1580, published 1595
- Era
- Renaissance
- Form
- Essay
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 60 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendSidney's The Defence of Poesy and Selected Renaissance Literary CriticismPenguin Classics, 2004Gavin Alexander's edition sets the Defence among the treatises it answered and inspired.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
The first major work of literary criticism in English, written in answer to Puritan attacks on the stage and published after Sidney's death. Sidney argues that poetry is the oldest of learning and the best teacher of virtue, because it joins the philosopher's precept to the historian's example in a golden world of its own making. He answers the charges that poets lie and corrupt, then turns on the state of English writing, praising Chaucer and the old ballad of Chevy Chase and mocking the disorder of contemporary plays.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Defense of Poesy are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.