Philip Sidney Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Peter C. Herman

Critical Essay by Peter C. Herman

SOURCE: "When Is a Defense Not a Defense? Sidney's Paradoxiacal Apology for Poetry," in Squitter-Wits and Muse-Haters, Wayne State University Press, 1996, pp. 61-94.

In the following excerpt, Herman reconsiders the Apology for Poetry and its stance regarding poetry's superiority to history in the light of two of Sidney's letters.

… "Do as I Say, Not as I Do": Sidney's Letters and the Apology

On May 22, 1580, a few months after he (probably) completed the Apology and at approximately the same time that he was also occupied by the Arcadia and Astrophil and Stella, Sidney answered a request from his friend, Edward Denny, for a list of books that an educated man should read.²⁵ On October 18, 1580, Sidney wrote a similar, though less formal letter to his brother Robert that deals with the same issues.²⁶

Taking the Denny letter first, the key difference between the Denny letter and...
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