What is Sidney’s Assessment of the English Drama of his Time?
An Apology for Poetry is a notable literary work by Philip Sidney. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of An Apology for Poetry.
Answer
What is Sidney’s assessment of English poetry of his time?
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) wrote “An Apology for Poetry” to defend poetry. Many people in his time thought poetry was useless or harmful. Sidney wanted to prove that poetry was valuable and noble. He believed poetry could teach people good values. He also talked about the condition of English poetry during his time.
Breaking Old Rules: Sidney said many English poets did not follow the classical rules. In their plays, they mixed serious kings with foolish clowns. This made the stories confusing and less serious. Some poets also showed many years and many places in one short play. These problems made English poetry look weak.
Wrong Use Of Language: Sidney noticed that some English poets used big and hard words. But these words had no deep meaning. The poets tried to look wise but failed to touch people’s hearts. They focused more on style than on truth or emotion. Sidney says,
“I have just cause to make a pitiful defence of poor poetry which from almost the highest estimation of learning is fallen to be the laughing-stock of children.”
Blame on Poets, Not Poetry: Many people blamed poetry for being foolish or dangerous. But Sidney said poetry itself was not bad. The problem was with the bad poets. Just like a sword is not evil, but can be used wrongly, poetry is not bad unless bad poets misuse it.
Finally, Sidney admitted that English poetry had some problems in his time. But he believed the fault was in the poets, not in poetry itself. He wanted poets to improve their work. He believed real poetry was still powerful, sweet, and useful for society.