English Literature : Prof. Munawar Ahmad SaeedM.A Eng, M.A. Phil. M.A,...

English Literature :
Prof. Munawar Ahmad SaeedM.A Eng, M.A. Phil. M.A,...: Prof. Munawar Ahmad Saeed M.A Eng, M.A. Phil. M.A, TEFL Govt.   College  Gulberg Lhr.Pakistan contactmunawar@yahoo.com Ph: 033...

What are the grounds on which Plato attacks poetry? What is the significance of his attack?

What are the grounds on which Plato attacks poetry? What is the significance of his attack?

In order to understand Plato's attack on poetry as well as his theory of poetry, it must be remembered that the aim of his literary criticism was to educate the youth and form them into good citizens of his ideal state. His was an age of political decline and dissolution. Education was in a poor state. The epics of Homer were an essential part of the school curriculum. They were respected by the Greeks like the Bible, and the influence of the poets was too deep on society. Yet poetry was in a decadent state. This degeneration resulted in much heart-searching and reflection on the part of philosophers and orators who regarded themselves as superior to the poets. Plato also was a philosopher; to prove his superiority over poets, he attacked poetry on four grounds—moral, emotional, intellectual and utilitarian.

(A) Moral Grounds

On moral grounds, Plato attacks poetry as follows :—

(1)     Poetry is not conducive to social morality, as poets pander to the popular taste and narrate tales of man's pleasant vices. This has a demoralising effect. This is more so the case with drama which depends entirely on popular patronage.

(2)     Poets tell lies about gods. Gods and their representative heroes are represented as corrupt, immoral, dishonest in the epics of the poets (notably of Homer). This depraves public taste and morality. Children tend to imitate the doings of gods and other heroes as told to them by their mothers, they fashion their own conduct on what they read. Philosophy alone is the proper subject of study.

(3)     Drama is even more harmful. Judgment in dramatic matters is left to the many, and the result is lawlessness and licence both in theme and expression. Poets and dramatists appeal to the baser instincts of men, their love of the sensational and the melodramatic. The vulgar and the morbid is thus fostered, and a, "sort of evil theatrocracy has taken the place of old aristocracy, with disastrous consequences to national well-being.

(B) Emotional Grounds

The emotional grounds on which Plato objects to poetry are the following:—

(1) The poets are 'divinely inspired'. It means that they do not compose poetry as craft, but by virtue of some impulse of a mysterious, non-rational kind, coming from some supernatural source, outside their own personality. They utter unconsciously what the Muse impels them to say : like fountains they allow to flow out freely what comes to it. Hence' heir pronouncements are unreliable and uncertain. The inspiration may -ease at any moment. There might be some truth in them for they are divinely inspired, but such partial and imperfect truths must be carefully examined. Such truths can be no substitute for knowledge based on reason.

(2)     The poets cannot often themselves explain what they write, for their frenzy is 'non-rational;'. Allegorical interpretations may be clever, but they are useless, as they are beyond the reach of the young and the immature. Even allegorical interpretations cannot justify stories of a baneful nature.

(3)      Barring lyric poetry, which is purely narrative, all other poetry— epic, tragedy and comedy—is imitative, wholly or partially, and all imitative poetry Plato regarded as pernicious. In Imitative poetry, the poet, and the reader as well, identifies himself completely with the fictitious characters of poetry, and such absorption in other personalities is weakening and unhealthy. It enfeebles character and personality, and impairs the single mindedness and integrity of the individual. Imitation soon becomes a second nature and the actor who imitates tends to behave like the object of the imitation. Thus one who imitates a female part tends to grow effiminate. Imitation will make him cowardly, knavish or clownish, if such roles are imitated.

(4)     Since the imitation of lower or baser part of the soul is easier and gives greater momentary pleasure, poets have a tendency to imitate the passionate element and thus abound in the vulgar, the sensational and the corrupt. Reason is thus kept in abeyance and full sway is given to the emotions. Hence poetry leads to loss of balance. InRepublic X, Plato condemns poets saying : "they feed and water the passions instead of
drying them up.......... "

(5)     Emotions such as pity and grief should be restrained, but in tragic poetry (tragedy) we give an uncontrolled expression to these emotions and thus play a woman's part.

(C)  Intellectual Grounds

Plato attacks poetry on intellectual grounds as well : poets have no knowledge of truth, for they imitate appearances and not the truth of things, illusions instead of reality. Poets, like painters, imitate the surface of things. Beyond the world of the senses there is another world, the world of ideal reality, where concepts, like truth, virtue, beauty, etc., exist in an ideal form. The phenomenal world is a mere illusion, a reflection or shadow of the ideal world. The poets have no knowledge of reality; they simply imitate the shadowy or the illusionary. Poetry is thrice removed from reality; it cannot be a source of knowledge and truth. It can tell us nothing about the essential reality.

(D)          Utilitarian Grounds

Poetry is the product of futile ignorance. The poet who imitates without really knowing what he is imitating is demonstrating both his lack of useful purpose and his lack of knowledge. Plato is not content with putting the 'imitator', of something below its maker; he also puts the maker below the user. He writes, "there are three arts which are concerned with all things : one which uses, another which makes, a third which imitates them." The poet stands the lowest, for neither does he use, nor does he make, he merely imitates. Poetry can serve no useful, practical purpose; it must not be a part of school curriculum.

At last Plato says that "no poetry should be admitted save hymns to the gods and panegyrics on famous men." The poets may be honoured, but they must be banishedfrom his ideal state.

Conclusion

Plato's attack has caused more misunderstanding than light. During and after the Renaissance, Puritans cited him as an example in their attack on poetry, and lovers of poetry accused him of "a denial of the value of art." For example, Sir Philip Sidney tried to justify Plato by saying that Plato's attack was directed not against poetry but against the abuse of poetry. Nevertheless, Plato's views were conditioned by his age and by certain specific circumstances of his time. And, therefore, his condemnation is not of universal application.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

Plato attacks poetry on personal, moral, emotional, intellectual and utilitarian grounds.

1.         Personal grounds : Poetry in his age, though in a decadent age, was more popular than philosophy and had a captivating influence. Plato being a philosopher wished to prove the superiority of philosophy over poetry.

2.         Moral grounds : Poetry has a demoralizing effect by pandering to the popular taste. Poets tell lies about gods. Dramatic poets encourage lawlessness and licence.

3.         Emotional grounds : Poets write as inspired beings hence non- rationalistic, mad; hence their pronouncements unreliable and uncertain; meaningless,ambiguous statements; imitative poetry pernicious as imitation becomes the second nature of the actor. Reason is kept in abeyance and full play is given to emotion. By rousing pity and fear tragedy enfeebles human personality.

4.         Intellectual grounds : Poets without knowledge of truths, illusive or delusive; poetry thrice removed from reality.

5.         Utilitarian Grounds : Poetry, the product of futile ignorance; Poet is not the real creator but imitator. Poetry can serve no useful, practical purpose

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English Help Line For All:             Social Satire In Swift's Gulliver Trav...:              Social Satire In Swift's Gulliver Travels  Q.        Write a comprehensive note on different satirical devices used...

An Apology for Poetry : An epitome of Renaissance Criticism

An Apology for Poetry   :  An epitome of Renaissance Criticism

Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie (1580-81) was intended as a reply to Stephen Gosson’s School of Abus (1579) Gosson had inducted poetry on four counts: that a man coaid employ his time more usefully than in poetry that it is the mother of lies, that it is the nurse of abuseramt that, Plato had rightly banished poets from his ideal state. Sidney in his Apology replies to each of these charges, drawing copiously, in the absence of critical authorities in England, on the ancient classics and the Italian writers of the Renaissance: in particular, on Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, among the Greeks, Virgil, Horace and Ovid, among the Romans; and Minturno, Scaliger, and Castelvetro, among the Italians. Yet it is an original document.

Sidney’s Apology is not only a reply to Gosson but much more. It is a spirited defence of poetry against all the charges that had been laid at its door since Plato. He says that poetry is the oldest of all branches of learning; it 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. Among its various species the pastoral pleases by its helpful comments on contemporary events and life in general, the elegy by its kindly pity for the weakness of mankind and the wretchedness of the world, the satire by its pleasant ridicule of folly, the comedy by its ridiculous imitation of the common errors of life, the tragedy by its moving demonstration of ‘the uncertainty of this world, and upon how weak foundations guilden roofs are builded,’ the lyric by its sweep praise of all that is praiseworthy, and the epic by its representation of the loftiest truths in the loftiest manner. Neither in whole nor in parts, thus, does poetry deserve the abuse hurled on it by its detractors.

Hence Sidney says that a man might better spend his time in poetry. The poet is not a liar; the poet uses veracity or falsehood to arrive at a higher truth. It is not poetry that abuses man’s wit but man’s wit that abuses poetry. Plato found fault not with poetry, which he considered divinely inspired, but with the poets of his time who abused it to misrepresent the gods.

Sidney’s Apology is a veritable epitome of the literary criticism of Italian Renaissance; and so thoroughly it is imbued with this spirit, that no other work, Italian, French, or English can be said to give so complete and so noble a conception of the temper and the principles of Renaissance criticism. Sidney is the herald of Neo-classicism in England. He is essentially a theorist of the exuberant imagination. He fuses the romantic and the classical tendencies. His Defence of Poetry is the earliest attempt to deal with the poetic art, practically and not theoretically. His judgements are based on contemporary literature and show ample good sense and sound scholarship. It is not merely empty, abstract theorising: apart from the unities, his judgements are not governed to and great extent by rules and theories. His ultimate test is of a practical kind, i.e., the power of poetry to move to virtuous action. He has thus contributed to the appreciation of literature in the concrete.

Sidney’s work is comprehensive enough to incorporate all the existing forms of poetry in his age. He gives his views on the nature and function of poetry, on the three unities, on tragedy and comedy, and on diction and metre. It is the pioneer in dramatic criticism. As a French critic has observed. Sidney‘s Defence of Poetry “gives us an almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy, a hundred years before the ‘Art Poetique’ of  Boileau.’”

Sidney‘s Apologie for Poetrie has rightly been valued as “one of the outstanding performances in English criticism and one which inaugurated a new phase in critical history. ” Outmoded though some of the critical opinions contained in it now are, yet it provides a singularly lofty and noble introduction to the long line of English treatises on the art of poetry. Its significance lies in the fact that it comes at a time when most of the gentlemen shunned the name of being called a ‘poet.’ Sidney‘s vindication of poetry and his serious treatment of the poetic art enthused a new confidence in them and poetry came to be looked upon as a noble and worthy pursuit, no more a ‘laughing stock of children.’ Sidney boldly faced the traditional objections to poetry and he tried to dispel the mists of prejudice that had gathered around it. His approach was not only negative but he positively tried to bring out the value of poetry in the social and intellectual life of society. He presented his arguments in the lost lucid and persuasive manner. He was treating poetry as a poet with ‘illuminating insight’ and ‘inspiring enthusiasm.’ Professor Atkins says:

“Nowhere else do we find the same happy mingling of the ideal and the practical, the same blend of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony, of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism; or again, that unstudied simplicity and grace which everywhere pervade the work. “

What was precisely the influence of this treatise on Sidney’s contemporaries is only a matter of conjecture. It was circulated in manuscript among his friends and other literary circles during his life and ‘ was soon quoted in the best critical places—in Puttenham’s Arte of 1589, in Harington’s Apologie of 1598.’ Its influence on Ben Jonson, Shakespeare and other dramatists is quite obvious. It gives incentive to creative writing. When this treatise was written, English literature stood at the lowest ebb. In less than twenty-five years after its publication, it became one of the glories of the world. Apart from its influence on the creative writers of the Elizabethan age. Sidney’s treatise showed the direction of later criticism, the neo-classical as well as the romantic. The neo-classical critics made a fetish of his views on the observance of the unities, and the romantic critics like Shelley drew inspiration from its fountain for supporting their theory of creative imagination Even to the modern readers it continues to charm ‘with its idealism, its sanity, its humour, and its grace. ‘(Atkins).

The Apologie is a kind of formal beginning of literary theorizing in England, and a brilliant enough one. The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the century but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well. Sidney was well-acquainted with the classical Greek and Roman critics. “But it all matters little. Sidney wrote, not a pedant’s encyclopaedia, but a gentleman’s essay.

Points to Remember

1.          Written in 1680-81 as a reply to Gosson’s School of Abuse, Sidney’s Apology is an epitome of Renaissance criticism, the foundation on which the castle of the future criticism of Sidney’s age rests.

2.          A spirited defence of poetry on the whole; poetry’s oldest branch of knowledge, superior to philosophy, history and science.

3.          Shows Sidney’s good sense and sound scholarship; a great contribution towards the appreciation of literature; gives an almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy.

4.          A blend of the ideal and the practical, of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony, of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism. (Atkins)

5.          Its deep influence and circulation. Influence on Ben Jonson and Shakespeare and Shelley quite apparent.

6.          “The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the country but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well.”

Sidney Contributions to English Criticism

Sidney's Apology is an important Renaissance document. It is a synthesis of the critical doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Scaliger, Minturno, and a host of other writers and critics. It brings together romanticism and classicism. It is the first attempt in English to deal with the poetic art, practically and not theoretically.

On the nature and function of poetry, on the three unities, on tragedy and comedy, and on diction and metre, Sidney represents contemporary trends. Everywhere his work reflects the influence of Aristotle and Plato and other classical writers. But his originality lies in the skill with which he has draws upon, selected, arranged and adapted earlier ideas and then has put forth his own ideas, independently arrived at. He makes use of 1. Italian critics, 2. Classical critics, Plato and Aristotle 3. Roman critics, Horace and Plutarch. 4. He also shows the influence of the medieval concept of tragedy, and 5. His didactic approach to poetry is typically Renaissance approach. However, his manner of presentation, his freshness and vigour, and his logical faculty are characteristically his own. His style has dignity, simplicity, concreteness, and a racy humour and irony. It is an illuminating piece of literary criticism as well as a fine piece of creative literature.

Sidney approached poetry not as a pedantic critic, but as a responsive reader. While most of his contemporaries were busy framing rules of rhetoric and prosody, he was paving the way for creative literature. He was preparing an audience who could 'feel' the emotional impact of literature and appreciate it. Sidney felt that literature was a great dynamic force and it had the power 'to move', 'to uplift' and to satisfy emotionally and aesthetically. J. W.H. Atkins has pointed out that "to him poetry was a natural human activity enabling men to sing to beauty and truth, and to satisfy their longings for a world transformed, thus nurturing in them what was good and noble. Moreover, so far from being merely an instrument of moral teaching, it was a concrete and inspiring revelation of human deals, and thus, in a sense, a criticism of life. This, then with its element of permanent truth, was the substance of Sidney's message to an age perplexed and even hostile."

No doubt Sidney has freely drawn on earlier critics, yet he has tried to arrive at his own conception of poetry. The basic question he meets is: why is poetry valuable. The second section of his essay deals with the nature and value of poetry. This is followed by an examination of the objection to poetry. The fourth section presents a critique of the contemporary literary poetry and of morality.

His definitions of poetry, two in number, speak of his greatness as a critic. The first is :"Poesy, therefore, is an art of imitation, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth; to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture, with this end,—to teach and delight." The second is :"it is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet. ...but it is that feigning notable images of virtue or vice, or -what else, with that delightful teaching; which must be the right describing note to know a poet by. "

His defence of poetry is unique. It logically refutes the contemporary charges of the puritans against poetry. Poetry is universal; the first light-giver to ignorance and the first nurse. The earliest recorded or preserved utterance of any nation is a form of poetic expression alone. The ancients delivered wisdom only through poetry. The first philosophers and scientists came before the people in the garb of poets. The poet is a creator, like God. The world created by the poet is a better world than ours. Only in the poetic world do we come across true lovers, constant friends, valiant men, right princes, and excellent men. These characters are perfect. The bad men in this world have unmixed badness, and such villains are not allowed to go unpunished. Poetry is superior to history and philosophy. The poet has both the general and the particular example. But the philosopher is only theoretical, for he has examples. The historian has examples, but no precepts. The historian speaks of what has been, not of what ought to be. The philosopher is vague and speaks of what should be.

The poet speaks of both what is and what should be of what is universal and what is particular. Poetry has liveliness and passion which are lacking in history and philosophy.

Sidney's remarks on tragedy, tragi-comedy and comedy speak of his knowledge of the contemporary trends of literature and his wide readings. In the field of drama his observations were true not only in his age but are also true and valid even today. His observations on satire and various forms of poetry are of great significance so are his views on diction, metre and verse. Surprisingly enough Sidney offers the best defence of metre. Praising English, he says that only in English can rhyme be observed "very precisely."

The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the century but a certain amount pf classical Greek and Roman as well. Further, Dramatic criticism in England began with Sir Philip Sidney. Sidney was 'the president of chivalry and nobleness.' He was, as Hakluyt called him the finest flower of the garden of wit and art. He saw that Poetry in his own days had fallen from high estimation to be the laughing stock of children. Gosson in his 'School of Abuse' has condemned poetry and had called it the mother of lies and the nurse of abuse. He had pointed out that there were better professions and vocations than that of a poet and that the suggestion of Plato should be followed in turning out the poets from the state. Sidney who was himself a poet could not relish the idea and sharply and violently reacted against the views of Gosson and the Puritans. He wrote a pitiful defence of Poetry and based the claims for poetry on its divine origin, its prophetic nature, its cultural value, its universal appeal, its elevating power and its alluring methods. He said that poetry was the most ancient and 'full of virtue breeding delightfulness.' He replied to all the charges made by the critics of his days and put back poetry to its own pedestal. He made it popular and freed it from the bondage and slavery of the Puritans. He revitalised it and gave it new life and vigour. It was to his attempts that Poetry was again read with interest and poets like Shakespeare and Spenser md others made England 'nest of singing birds.'

Points to Remember

1.       Apologie—an important Renaissance document—a synthesis of the critical doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Scaliger, Mintumo and a few other Italian critics—a union of romanticism and classicism, first important English document in criticism.

2.       Sidney represents contemporary trends on the nature and function of poetry, on the three dramatic unities, on tragedy and comedy.

3.       His originality lies in the selection, arrangement and adaptation of earlier ideas. Also original in his style, presentation, etc.

4.       Approached poetry not as a pedantic critic but as a responsive reader. He has his own conception of poetry. His defence of poetry is sound, logical and convincing. His view that "it is not riming and versing that maketh a poet" has proved to be a universal utterance.

5.       He has rightly upheld the superiority of poetry over history, philosophy and science.

6.       He regards the poet as God, the creator.

7.       Sidney's remarks on tragedy, tragi-comedy and comedy speak of the contemporary trends of literature and his wide ranging interests.

8.       "Dramatic criticism in England began with Sir Philip Sidney." (Spingarn).

9.       Sidney, "the president of chivalry and nobleness," "the finest flower of the garden of wit and art."

10.     Sidney revitalised poetry and gave it new life.

An Apology for Poetry : An epitome of Renaissance Criticism

An Apology for Poetry   :  An epitome of Renaissance Criticism

Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie (1580-81) was intended as a reply to Stephen Gosson’s School of Abus (1579) Gosson had inducted poetry on four counts: that a man coaid employ his time more usefully than in poetry that it is the mother of lies, that it is the nurse of abuseramt that, Plato had rightly banished poets from his ideal state. Sidney in his Apology replies to each of these charges, drawing copiously, in the absence of critical authorities in England, on the ancient classics and the Italian writers of the Renaissance: in particular, on Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, among the Greeks, Virgil, Horace and Ovid, among the Romans; and Minturno, Scaliger, and Castelvetro, among the Italians. Yet it is an original document.

Sidney’s Apology is not only a reply to Gosson but much more. It is a spirited defence of poetry against all the charges that had been laid at its door since Plato. He says that poetry is the oldest of all branches of learning; it 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. Among its various species the pastoral pleases by its helpful comments on contemporary events and life in general, the elegy by its kindly pity for the weakness of mankind and the wretchedness of the world, the satire by its pleasant ridicule of folly, the comedy by its ridiculous imitation of the common errors of life, the tragedy by its moving demonstration of ‘the uncertainty of this world, and upon how weak foundations guilden roofs are builded,’ the lyric by its sweep praise of all that is praiseworthy, and the epic by its representation of the loftiest truths in the loftiest manner. Neither in whole nor in parts, thus, does poetry deserve the abuse hurled on it by its detractors.

Hence Sidney says that a man might better spend his time in poetry. The poet is not a liar; the poet uses veracity or falsehood to arrive at a higher truth. It is not poetry that abuses man’s wit but man’s wit that abuses poetry. Plato found fault not with poetry, which he considered divinely inspired, but with the poets of his time who abused it to misrepresent the gods.

Sidney’s Apology is a veritable epitome of the literary criticism of Italian Renaissance; and so thoroughly it is imbued with this spirit, that no other work, Italian, French, or English can be said to give so complete and so noble a conception of the temper and the principles of Renaissance criticism. Sidney is the herald of Neo-classicism in England. He is essentially a theorist of the exuberant imagination. He fuses the romantic and the classical tendencies. His Defence of Poetry is the earliest attempt to deal with the poetic art, practically and not theoretically. His judgements are based on contemporary literature and show ample good sense and sound scholarship. It is not merely empty, abstract theorising: apart from the unities, his judgements are not governed to and great extent by rules and theories. His ultimate test is of a practical kind, i.e., the power of poetry to move to virtuous action. He has thus contributed to the appreciation of literature in the concrete.

Sidney’s work is comprehensive enough to incorporate all the existing forms of poetry in his age. He gives his views on the nature and function of poetry, on the three unities, on tragedy and comedy, and on diction and metre. It is the pioneer in dramatic criticism. As a French critic has observed. Sidney‘s Defence of Poetry “gives us an almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy, a hundred years before the ‘Art Poetique’ of  Boileau.’”

Sidney‘s Apologie for Poetrie has rightly been valued as “one of the outstanding performances in English criticism and one which inaugurated a new phase in critical history. ” Outmoded though some of the critical opinions contained in it now are, yet it provides a singularly lofty and noble introduction to the long line of English treatises on the art of poetry. Its significance lies in the fact that it comes at a time when most of the gentlemen shunned the name of being called a ‘poet.’ Sidney‘s vindication of poetry and his serious treatment of the poetic art enthused a new confidence in them and poetry came to be looked upon as a noble and worthy pursuit, no more a ‘laughing stock of children.’ Sidney boldly faced the traditional objections to poetry and he tried to dispel the mists of prejudice that had gathered around it. His approach was not only negative but he positively tried to bring out the value of poetry in the social and intellectual life of society. He presented his arguments in the lost lucid and persuasive manner. He was treating poetry as a poet with ‘illuminating insight’ and ‘inspiring enthusiasm.’ Professor Atkins says:

“Nowhere else do we find the same happy mingling of the ideal and the practical, the same blend of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony, of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism; or again, that unstudied simplicity and grace which everywhere pervade the work. “

What was precisely the influence of this treatise on Sidney’s contemporaries is only a matter of conjecture. It was circulated in manuscript among his friends and other literary circles during his life and ‘ was soon quoted in the best critical places—in Puttenham’s Arte of 1589, in Harington’s Apologie of 1598.’ Its influence on Ben Jonson, Shakespeare and other dramatists is quite obvious. It gives incentive to creative writing. When this treatise was written, English literature stood at the lowest ebb. In less than twenty-five years after its publication, it became one of the glories of the world. Apart from its influence on the creative writers of the Elizabethan age. Sidney’s treatise showed the direction of later criticism, the neo-classical as well as the romantic. The neo-classical critics made a fetish of his views on the observance of the unities, and the romantic critics like Shelley drew inspiration from its fountain for supporting their theory of creative imagination Even to the modern readers it continues to charm ‘with its idealism, its sanity, its humour, and its grace. ‘(Atkins).

The Apologie is a kind of formal beginning of literary theorizing in England, and a brilliant enough one. The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the century but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well. Sidney was well-acquainted with the classical Greek and Roman critics. “But it all matters little. Sidney wrote, not a pedant’s encyclopaedia, but a gentleman’s essay.

Points to Remember

1.          Written in 1680-81 as a reply to Gosson’s School of Abuse, Sidney’s Apology is an epitome of Renaissance criticism, the foundation on which the castle of the future criticism of Sidney’s age rests.

2.          A spirited defence of poetry on the whole; poetry’s oldest branch of knowledge, superior to philosophy, history and science.

3.          Shows Sidney’s good sense and sound scholarship; a great contribution towards the appreciation of literature; gives an almost complete theory of neo-classical tragedy.

4.          A blend of the ideal and the practical, of dignity and humour; of sincerity and irony, of controlled enthusiasm and racy colloquialism. (Atkins)

5.          Its deep influence and circulation. Influence on Ben Jonson and Shakespeare and Shelley quite apparent.

6.          “The essay reflects and telescopes not only the continental criticism of the country but a certain amount of classical Greek and Roman as well.”

Sydney’s Definition of Poetry and its superiority over Philosophy & History

Sydney’s Definition of Poetry and its superiority over Philosophy & History

Philip Sidney defends poetry in his essay “Apology for Poetry” from the accusations made by Stephen Gosson in his “School of Abuse” dedicated to him. There, Gosson makes some objections against poetry. Sidney replies to the objections made by Gosson very emphatically, defending poetry in his essay. Sidney does this in a very logical and scholarly way.

The major objections against poetry are:

(a) “that there being many other more fruitful knowledges, a man might better spend his time in them then in this”;

 (b) that it is the mother of lies;

(c) that it is the nurse of abuse; infecting us with many pestilent desires; and

(d) that Plato had rightly banised poets from his ideal republic.

Sidney’s replies to these objections:

(a)      Defending poetry against the first charge, he says that man can’t employ his time more usefully than in poetry. He says that “no learning is so good as that teacheth and moveth to virtue, and that none can both teach virtue, and thereto as much as poetry”.

(b)      His answer to the second objection that poets are liers is that of all writers under the sun the poet is the least lier. The poet creates something by emotion or imagination against which no charge of lying can be brought. The astronomer, the geometrician, the historian and others, all make false statements. But poet “nothing affirms, and therefore never lieth”, his end being “to tell not what is or what is not, but what should or should not be”. The question of truth or falsehood would arise only when a person insists on telling a fact. The poet does not present fact but fiction embodying truth of an ideal kind.

(c)      The third objection against poetry that it is the nurse of abuse, “infecting us with many pestilent desires or wits” may be partly justified, but for this a particular poet may be blamed but not poetry. To this charge, Sidney replies that poetry does not abuse man’s wit but it is man’s wit that abuses poetry. All arts and sciences misused had evil effects, but that did not mean that they were less valuable when rightly employed. Abuse of poetry, according to Sidney, is not the problem of poetry but of the poet.

(d)      The fourth objection that Plato had rightly banished the poets from his ideal republic is also not tenable because Plato sought to banish the amoral poets of his time, and not poetry itself. Plato himself believed that poetry is divinely inspired. In “Ion”, Plato gives high and rightly divine commendation to poetry. His description of the poet as “a light-winged and sacred thing” reveals his attitude to poetry. Sidney concludes, “So as Plato banishing the abuse, not the ‘Thing’, not banishing it, but giving due honour unto it, shall be our patron and not adversary”.

In this way, Sidney very strongly defends poetry against the accusations made by Stephen Gosson on poetry.

Superiority of poetry over history and philosophy:

In the promotion of virtue, both philosophy and history play their parts. Philosophy deals with its theoretical aspects and teaches virtue by precepts. History teaches practical virtue by drawing concrete examples from life. But poetry gives both practical and precepts examples. Philosophy, being based on abstractions, is “heard of utterance and mystery to be conceived.” It cannot be a proper guide for youth. On the other hand, the historian is tied to empirical facts that his example drags no necessary consequence. Poetry gives perfect pictures of virtue which are far more effective than the mere definitions of philosophy. It also gives imaginary examples which are more instructive than the real examples of history. The reward of virtue and the punishment of vice is more clearly shown in poetry than in history. Poetry is superior to philosophy in the sense that it has the power to move and to give incentive for virtuous action. It presents moral lessons in a very attractive manner. Things which in themselves are horrible as cruel battles, monsters are made delightful in poetic imitation. Poet is therefore the monarch of all knowledge. “For he doth(does) not only show the way but giveth(gives) so sweet a prospect into the way as will entice any man to enter into it.”

The poet does not begin with obscure definitions which load the memory with doubtfulness, “but he cometh(comes) to you with words set in delightful proportion, either accompanied with or prepared for the well-enchanting skill of music and with a tale for suit he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth(holds) children from play and old man from the chimney corner. And pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue.”

Significance of “An Apology for Poetry”

Significance of “An Apology for Poetry”

An Apology for Poetry is the most important contribution to Renaissance literary theory. Sidney advocates a place for poetry within the framework of an aristocratic state, while showing concern for both literary and national identity (Griffiths). Sidney responds in Apology to an emerging antipathy to poetry as expressed in Stephen Gosson’s The Schoole of Abuse (1579). Gosson offers what is in essence a puritan attack on imaginative literature (Griffiths). What is at stake in Sidney’s argument is a defense of poetry’s nobility. The significance of the nobility of poetry is its power to move readers to virtuous action (Robertson). True poets must teach and delight – a view that dates back to Horace.

In an era of antipathy to poetry and puritanical belief in the corruption engendered by literature, Sidney’s defense was a significant contribution to the genre of literary criticism. It was England’s first philosophical defense in which he describes poetry’s ancient and indispensable place in society, its mimetic nature, and its ethical function (Harvey). Among Sidney’s gifts to his contemporaries were his respect for tradition and willingness to experiment (Robertson). An example of the latter is his approach to Plato. He reconfigures Plato’s argument against poets by saying poets are “the least liar” (Leitch). Poets never claim to know the truth, nor “make circles around your imagination,” nor rely on authority (Letich). As an expression of a cultural attitude descending from Aristotle, Sidney, when stating that the poet "never affirmeth," makes the claim that all statements in literature are hypothetical or pseudo-statements (Frye). Sidney, as a traditionalist, however, gives attention to drama in contradistinction to poetry. Drama, writes Sidney, is “observing neither rules of honest civility nor of skillful poetry” and thus cannot do justice to this genre (Leitch).

In Sidney's day anti-theatricality, an aesthetic and ideological concern, flourished among Sidney’s circle at court (Acheson). Theatre became a contentious issue in part because of the culmination of a growing contempt for the values of the emergent consumer culture. An expanding money economy encouraged social mobility. Europe, at this time, had its first encounter with inflation (Davies). London's theatres at that time grew in popularity so much that by 1605, despite the introduction of charges, London commercial theatres could accommodate up to eight thousand men and women (Hale). Sidney had his own views on drama. In Apology, he shows opposition to the current of his day that pays little attention to unity of place in drama (Bear), but more specifically, his concern is with the "manner" that the "matter" is conveyed (Leitch Sidney). He explains that tragedy is not bound to history or the narrative but to "laws of poesy," having "liberty, either to feign a quite new matter, or to frame the history to the most tragical conveniency".

Sidney employs a number of strategies to assert the proper place of poetry. For instance, he argues against the way in which poetry was misaligned with youth, the effeminate and the timorous. He does so by introducing the idea that “poetry is the companion of camps” and by invoking the heroes of ages past (Leitch). Sidney’s reverence for the poet as soldier is significant because he himself was a soldier at one time. Poetry, in Apology, becomes an art that requires the noble stirring of courage (Pask).

Sidney writes An Apology for Poetry in the form of a judicial oration for the defense, and thus it is like a trial in structure. Crucial to his defense is the descriptive discourse and the idea that poetry creates a separate reality (Harvey). Sidney employs forensic rhetoric as a tool to make the argument that poetry not only conveys a separate reality, but that it has a long and venerable history, and it does not lie. It is defensible in its own right as a means to move readers to virtuous action

Themes in Philip Larkin's poetry

THEMES IN PHILIP LARKIN'S POETRY

Theme is derived from the Greek words"Proposition, Deposit".  According to A Dictionary of Literary Terms by MARTIN GRAY:

"Theme is the abstract subject of a work, its central idea or ideas, which may or may not be explicit or obvious. A text may contain several themes or themetic interests."

For example : it can be argued thatSHAKESPEARE's King Lear (c.1605)touches upon all the following themes;  rashness, evil, the nature of truth, appearance and reality, kinship, sexuality, ingratitude, selfishness, and so on.

PHILIP LARKIN's poetry has a variety of themes: such as religion, melancholy, pessimism, realism, isolation, love, nature, social chaos, alienation, boredom, death, time and sex etc. Some critics have pointed out the narrowness of his range of themes, while his admirers have expressed their praise for his distinctive treatment of these themes but his limited work has unlimited depth. There are many themes in his poetry which are as follow:

i. Religion is the most prominent and dominant theme of his poetry. Larkin has composed his poetry in the context of his temperament and of his personal views on life, religion, and religious dogmas. He shares his thoughts about God, religion and the existing scenario of religious beliefs of different classes of society in one of his poems, ‘Church Going’ in a realistic manner. His poem ‘Church Going’ chronicles the account of that time, when people had become suspicious of the existence of God and religion. Larkin’s sarcasm is seen from the very first line of the poem:

“Once I am sure there's nothing going on.”

The description of the church would be familiar to anyone who has visited a small parish church in Britain. The layout is typical of the architecture prevalent in the Church of England, with a central aisle flanked by wooden pews with cushioned kneelers and prayer books placed in small shelves on the backs of the pews. An altar rail separates the sanctuary on the east end from the rest of the church. Behind the altar rail one sees a pulpit on the left, a lectern on the right, and in the center a large altar or communion table. Large Bibles are normally kept open to the day's reading on both pulpit and lectern. Although the narrator himself is not an active member of the Church, he nonetheless mounts the lectern and reads the lesson, even closing with the words "Here endeth the lesson," (which would not be in the Bible itself -- suggesting the narrator recalls them from memory) precisely as a lay reader would during a service. He then returns to his persona as a non-religious tourist, dropping a sixpence (roughly equivalent to a quarter in U.S. terms) into the collection box and signing the visitor book. The narrator resolves this contradiction with an understanding that the value of churches and religion lies in what he calls their seriousness, or their long tradition of being a place concerned with the great and meaningful issues of life and death, as opposed to the ordinary and everyday. The narrator finally understands his own reason for seeking out churches and the purpose of the churches he seeks in the final two stanzas:

“It pleases me to stand in silence here; / A serious house on serious earth it is, ... / And that much never can be obsolete, / Since someone will forever be surprising / A hunger in himself to be more serious, / And gravitating with it to this ground, / Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in ...”

ii. Melancholy which means "a deep feeling of sadness that lasts for a long time and often cannot be explained".Melancholy embraces all his themes. This is also the most prominent and dominant theme of his poetry. It is because of his incurable pessimistic attitude. ERIC HOMBERGER, in 'The Art of the Real ' describes him as:

"The saddest heart in the post war supermarket".

LARKIN's attitude in his poem"Ambulances" is pessimistic with an atmosphere of pathos and melancholy hovering over it. The poem shows thehollowness and emptiness of modern man who has no time to show love and sympathy for a sick man, he says:

"And sense the solving emptiness / That lays just under all we do."

That modern man is devoid of sympathy, he only pays lip service for the sick man, but no practical solution.

iii. The element of Chaos which means "a state of complete confusion and lack of order" and Destruction is distinct in LARKIN's poetry, as his poemMCMXIV(1914) .It illuminates the poet's impression of the post war world.LARKIN fails to come out of the horrors of war. His poetry revolves around the disastrous and chaotic effects of war. He minutely observes the chaotic social, political, economic and theological system. He discusses the chaotic situation in which people were forced to migrate to villages in search of shelter.LARKIN sympathises with the lost generation  and criticizes at the craze for war.

iv. His poem, "Church Going"shows Nihilism which means ''a philosophical doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life'' andPessimism which means ''a state of mind in which one anticipates undesirable outcomes or believes that the evil or hardships in life outweigh the good or luxuries.'' ANDREW MOTION says that:

"Larkin has often been regarded as a hopeless, inflexible pessimist"

 Church Going deals with contemporary agnosticism. The narrator in this poem is very skeptical about churches. LARKIN's dilemma is not whether to believe in God or not, but what a man can replace with God. Though the 'Church' is the symbol of faith, peace and purity yet in the modern age people have lost faith in Church. He says:

"Who will be the last, the very / Last to seek this place for what It was."

And further he says that:

"Shall we avoid them as unlucky places? "

As for as the nihilism is concerned,LARKIN talks about the negation of life and shows his disgust with the modern civilization.

 v. Realism is also a dominant theme in LARKIN's poetry. In Church Going, it shows the disintegration of religion and church as an institution, that people are losing faith in existing Church and Christianity. And Church has failed to prove its importance and value in the society. In "Mr. Bleaney", Larkin has described the life of an ordinary man. Mr. Bleaney is actually a post war tattered person who doesn't realise the importance of time. He observes that the room is dirty and there is no room for books. It also contains autobiographical elements. MCMXIV is based on reality, it shows the condition of people just before the war, it also highlights  the miserable condition of the people whereas , the people are simple and innocent the title of the poem also stresses that the era of peace before war can never be retreated. He says:

" Those long uneven lines standing as patiently / As if they were stretched outside the Oval and Villa Park. "

"Ambulances" is also a very realistic poem, it shows the picture of post war world, where people are sick and dying day and night.

vi. Loneliness and Alienationwhich means "a sense of not belonging, either to a community or to one's own sense of self" are the recurrent themes ofLARKIN. His poem "Mr. Bleaney" is about the wretched plight of modern man and its pleasures. MR. BLEANEYlives in abject poverty because of economic pressures. The poet satirises at the modern civilization which is going to dogs. It is full of chaos and there is no hope for betterment in the life of a common man.

vii. Love is another significant theme of his poetry. He regards love as a supreme illusion. Love comes in the guise of melancholy. His poetry shows that modern man has no love and sympathy for others. So, he doesn't depict love as very ardent or satisfying passion. He believes that every one is sure to be disappointed in love. His poem "No Road" depicts the impossibility of the fulfillment of love. He always tries to explore the gap between what one expects in love and what he receives in it as MR. BLEANEY and the man in Ambulance both are deprived of love in their lives.

viii. LARKIN's pessimism leads him to contemplate about Death. It is the dominant theme in his poetry. His imagination is always gripped with the idea of death which made him a contemplative soul. Almost every critic noted his obsession with death. He emphasizes on the omnipresence of death. His poem "Ambulances"represents death. He says that the busy routine of an urban neighborhood is disturbed by the sudden emergence of an ambulance. ANDREW MOTION remarks:

 “The poem "Ambulances" modestly and devoutly collects evidence of ordinary life to create a truth which can be universally acknowledged.”

 The sight of the graves makes a man wiser therefore every grave reminds the thoughts of death. It is ‘Ambulances’, however, that provides us with the bluntest depiction of human mortality, with its vivid descriptions of illness and death.  The poem exposes:

“The solving emptiness / That lies just under all we do.”

Death itself figures as a subject in'Aubade' He works all day long and drinks at night while 'unresting death'draws nearer to him every day and his mind is blank without any thought about how and when he will die. Work may also help to combat the thought of death, but it cannot stave it off. So, the poet says in'Toad Revised':

"Give me your arm, old toad: / Help me down Cametry Road."

ix. The theme of Boredom andSadness also rules over LARKIN's poetry. Insignificance of man is described in his poem Going . LARKIN writes in 'Dockery and Son' that 'life is first boredom'. His rejection of life was due to the fact that it never exercised any fascination for him. He says:

"Whether or not we use it life, it goes. "

Again, in "Dockery and Son" ,he says:

"Childhood for him was a forgotten boredom."

 x. Nature is represented inLARKIN's poetry as impersonal and neutral. He doesn't take nature as holy mother; rather it comes in the clock of chaos and destruction. He says:

"Nature is impersonal and neutral."

So, he doesn't highlight the beauty of nature but he only gives the description of canals, civic life, village and industry. However, he imparts a moralizing power to nature as he says that the trees don't allow people to believe in their immortality. The trees renew themselves every year and invite men to follow their example of refreshing the life.

xi. LARKIN's poetry reveals his awareness of the passing of Time, that's why he considers that the man is a salve of time. He vividly discusses the adverse effects of time on man. Like HARDY, he is obsessed with the destructive nature of time. The three phases of time, present, past and future are mutually exclusive but not oblivious. He says himself in "Reference Back":

"Though our element is time,/ We are not suited to the long perspectives / Open at each instant of our lives. / They link us to our losses."

Deep and profound is the influence of the social and political atmosphere of his time on Larkin’s poetry. Larkin’s realistic approach towards his Timemakes him write what he has written. We can see the true portrait of the post-war England in Larkin’s collection of poetry, or it can be said that his poetry is greatly reinforced by the cataclysmic scenario of post-war England.

Time links us to our past. The dreams and hopes which we fondly cherished are blasted as we grow old and we are overcome with a sense of loss. "There is a double cruelty in time'. P.R. KINGcomments:

"It both reminds us what we might have had, and turns what we do have into a sense of disappointment."

xii. Sex is one of Larkin’s main themes. He talks about people doing it, his lack of it, and his desperate desire for some of it. Larkin obviously isn’t getting any sexual fulfillment from anyone and he is unafraid to show that. BRUCE MEYER, a poetry critic, said of Larkin’s book High WINDOWS,

“Larkin’s poetry shows his pathetic and unattainable desires for love, passion, and human contact.”

Another thing that LARKIN's poetry does is make people relate to his problems and feelings and also desire the things he wants. LARKIN invokes his own jealousy of people who are having sex upon his readers. LARKIN targets people who aren’t getting sexual fulfillment and makes them feel the same way he does: unhappy with their current predicament (not having sex) and possessing a desire to change this situation. Again BRUCE MEYER, “High Windows is about the sexual

“When I see a couple of kids / And guess he’s fucking her… Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives- Bonds and gestures pushed to one side.”

In the end, one can say thatLARKIN, being a modern poet, has taken up the themes of religion, melancholy, pessimism, realism, isolation, love, nature, social chaos, alienation, boredom, death, time and sex in his poetry. This approach is quite clear from his treatment of the questions of belief knowledge and perceptions. All these things were necessary because of the conditions of Post War England and also his treatment of these themes is very unique, realistic and convincing