Sidney’s Defence of Poesy (1579/1595)

The assertions below paraphrase some of Sir Philip Sidney's claims about literature in the Defence of Poesy (keyed to the relevant pages in the handout). Study these propositions, first by determining the meaning of Sidney's claims and then by comparing his ideas to your own views about the aims and relative importance of poetry (read: literature). Be prepared to explain why you agree or disagree with Sidney.

1. The aim of poetry is to teach and delight (483-84).

2. Poets are better than historians at inculcating* virtue and motivating their readers to act virtuously (486-88).

3. Poets are better than philosophers at inculcating virtue and motivating their readers to act virtuously (486-88).

4. Poets, though they deal in fictions, are not liars (493-94).

5. Comedy should strive to delight rather than merely excite laughter—the two are not the same thing (496-98).

*Inculcate, from Latin inculcare, “to stamp with the heel, tread in, cram in; impress (upon the mind)”