‘The poet with that same hand of delight doth draw the mind more effectually than any other art doth’
Out of the intellectual ferment of the English Renaissance came a number of outstanding critical works that sought to define and defend the role of literature in society and to comment on the craft of writing. Foremost among these is Sir Philip Sidney’s The Defence of Poesy: an eloquent argument for fiction as a means of inspiring its readers to virtuous action. George Puttenham’s The Art of English Poesy is an entertaining examination of poetry, verse form and rhetoric, while Samuel Daniel’s A Defence of Rhyme considers the practice of versification and praises the English literary tradition. Along with pieces by such writers as Sir John Harrington, Frances Bacon and Ben Jonson, these works reveal the emergence of new critical ideas and approaches, and celebrate the possibilities of the English language.
Gavin Alexander’s introduction sets these writings in the context of the Renaissance and discusses the traditions of humanist literary criticism and rhetoric. This edition also includes detailed notes on each work, further reading, glosses and a chronology.
Sidney's 'The Defence of Poesy' and Selected Renaissance Literary Criticism
Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Texts
Sir Philip Sidney
The Defence of Poesy (c.1580; printed 1595)
George Puttingham
Th Art of English Poesy (1589)
Samuel Daniel
A Defence of Rhyme (1603)
Selected Passages
George Gascoigne
Certain Notes of Instruction (1575)
Henry Peachum
The Garden of Eloquence (1577; 1593)
William Webbe
A Discourse of English Poetry (1586)
Sir John Harington
A Brief Apology of Poetry (1591)
Samuel Daniel
from Musophilus: Containing a General Defence of Learning (1599)
Thomas Campion
from Observations in the Art of English (1602)
Francis Bacon
from The Advancement of Learning (1605)
Michael Drayton
To Henry Reynolds, or Poets and Poesy (1627)
Sir William Alexander
from Anacrisis. Or a Censure of some Poets Ancient and Modern (c. 1655)
Ben Jonson
A Fit of Rhyme against Rhyme (before 1637)
Ben Jonson
from Horace, his Age of Poetry (before 1637)
A Note on Rhetoric
A Note on English Versification
Notes
Index
