Critical Analyis of Sir Philp Sidneys Defense of Poesy

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Critical Analysis of Sir Philip Sidney 's Defense of Poesy

The Defence of Poesy by Philip Sidney published in 1595 is a long essay that comes as an answer to Stephan Gosson 's work The School of Abuse , where he , in his puritan and strict way of thinking , attacks the poet and his poetry (Wharton 56 . Gosson primarily points out that fiction and literature corrupt the public 's sense of morality since it opens the public 's mind with different realities . It gives the public

br ideas towards consumerism as literature and fiction becomes a way of money making . It heightens human desire for material growth and development that is most of the time destructive . Gosson is afraid that people will prioritize tangible development than the traditional sense of morality . Philip Sidney though in this work of literature The Defence of Poecy ' opposes Gosson 's objections towards poetry or Gosson 's puritan attack on imaginative literature . He primarily stated that poetry has an indispensable place in the society as it is a reflection of history , ethics and philosophy . Poetry that contains these complementing elements has an ethical function to the readers . Poetry by which he meant imaginative or creative writing has an ethical value which aims to appeal human beings to "see the form of goodness , which seen they cannot but love ere themselves be aware , as if they took a medicine of cherries (Macaulay 11 ) Poetry which is the best faculty of invention for Sidney...