Sidney's Concept of 

The Superiority of Poetry

Over Philosophy and History

Q.      How does Sidney try to establish the superiority of poetry over philosophy and history?

Ans.    Sidney has devoted plenty of space in his essay to the discussion of the comparative merits of poetry on one hand and philosophy and history on the other. He gives poetry a place above both philosophy and history; and gives several reasons for doing so. In the first place, he points out that poetry was the earliest form of composition. Poetry is venerated for its antiquity. Philosophers and historians came later than the poets. Secondly, even the earliest philosophers, for instance in Greece, appeared before the people in the guise of poets. Empedocles and Parmenides wrote their natural philosophy in verse. As for the historians, they borrowed their style of writing from poets. Thirdly, and most important, all learning aims at the moral improvement of human beings. And poetry of all the kinds of learning fulfils this task most effectively and successfully, according to Sidney.

The philosopher is likely to say that it is he who really teaches human beings what virtue is. In other words, the philosopher claims to be a better teacher of virtue than anybody else. Here the historian is likely to step forward and challenge not only the claims of the poet but also of the philosopher. The historian will say that the philosopher teaches theoretical virtue while the historian teaches practical virtue. The philosopher teaches virtue by certain abstract considerations, while the historian teaches virtue by depicting in his history the experiences of mankind through the ages.

Sidney speaks about the claims of both the philosopher and the historian in a satirical and mocking way, thus indicates his disparagement of both. Sidney points out that, the philosopher and the historian have the same goal, the philosopher uses precept and the historian uses example. But it is the poet who performs both the function of the philosopher and historian. The poet employs both precept and example. The abstract statements of the philosophers are not easily understood, while the historian is tied to the particular truth of things. The example offered by the historian yields no general truth and is therefore a less fruitful doctrine. While, the poet couples the general notion with the particular example.

Sidney begins his defence by pointing out that poetry was the earliest form of composition everywhere and that for a long time the philosophers of ancient Greece appeared to the world in the guise of poets, while even the historians readily borrowed the poetic style of writing. Among the ancient Romans a poet was called "Vates", meaning a diviner or a prophet. The ancient Greeks regarded the poet as a "maker". The poet, says Sidney, imitates the "works of Nature, as do other artists and men of learning. But the poet, while imitating Nature, transcends it and builds a new Nature. Poetry is superior to both philosophy and history so far as teaching virtue and urging human beings to live virtuously, (The philosopher teaches only by precept, and the historian teaches only by example. The poet employs both the method of precept and the method of example.) The philosopher conveys virtue in an abstract manner. But the poet conveys virtue by a concrete portrayal of virtuous characters. The poet is therefore superior to the philosopher. As for the historian, he does describe virtue and vice through actual historical examples; but he has to remain tied to what has actually happened. The poet can mould the facts of life in any way he likes so he has a greater freedom than the historian. History describes what was actually done while poetry tells what is fit to be said or what is fit to be done according to the law of probability or necessity. Besides, history deals with the particular, while poetry deals with the universal. Quoting Aristotle, Sidney says that poetry is more philosophical and more serious than history. Poetry is superior to philosophy because it has the power to stir or move the mind of the reader in a way philosophy cannot do. The poet wins the mind of the reader.

Then Sidney proceeds to elaborate the view that poetry is an imitation. The poet like other men learning imitates the objects of Nature. However, the poet goes beyond Nature. The poet is carried forward and upward by the vigour of his own invention and imagination, in fact, build up another Nature. The poet either makes things better than those which exist in Nature or makes absolutely new forms such as do not exist in Nature before. The poet creates such new forms as the demigods, Cyclops, and Furies. The world which the poet depicts in his work is more beautiful than the real world. Poet’s world is a golden world as distinguished from the brazen world of Nature. The poet portrays human beings of the kind who never existed in Nature. Nature has never created such a constant friend as Pylades, such a valiant man as Orlando, such a true prince as Cyrus, so excellent a man in every way as Aeneas. All these men were created by poets. The Greeks, says Sidney were fully justified in giving to the poet the title of a "maker". To Sidney, therefore, a maker is a creator. Indeed, the creative faculty is the highest gift with which man has been blessed; and this creative faculty is found in the poet to a greater extent than in any other kind of man. Thus Sidney does not regard poetic imitation as something slavish. The poet's imitation of Nature is not a servile imitation. His imitation of nature is not a tame copy of what is to be seen and found in real world. The poet rises above this world of reality. As Sidney puts it that, the poet "transcends" Nature. The imagination of the poet transmutes and transfigures reality. Here, of course, Sidney is on very firm ground. The creative aspect of poetry must be recognized; and Sidney rendered great service to literary criticism by recognizing and emphasizing it.

            According to Sidney Poetry teaches and delights; but that is not all. Sidney also points out the power of poetry to move the mind and to stir the heart. It is by its power to move the minds it influences the behaviour and conduct. After reading Homer's Odyssey, and after going through the incident of Aeneas carrying old Anchises on his back, everybody would like to perform a deed of similar virtue. Menenius Agrippa, the statesman, was able by using a poetical device in his oration to avert a civil war in Rome. These examples show that the poet using delight as his instrument influences the mind of the readers more effectively than any other art does. As virtue is the most excellent end of all worldly learning, so is poetry the most familiar way to teach virtue. It is wrong to condemn or censure poetry in any of its forms, says Sidney. He then goes on to defend the various forms of poetry and states the benefits of pastoral poetry, elegiac poetry, comic and satiric poetry, tragic poetry, heroic poetry, etc. Sidney speaks of lyrical poetry: "I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet."

Sidney comes very close to Longinus's view about the power of poetry to "transport". In this respect, Sidney takes up a position which links him with romantic poets though, on the whole, he is a neo-classical critic. The only thing which jars upon our minds is Sidney's repeated emphasis upon the moral and didactic aim of poetry. But here we should remember the context in which Sidney puts this emphasis on the moral aspect of poetry. Poetry was censured by the Puritans and it was necessary for Sidney to meet the challenge which men like Stephen Gosson were flinging at it.

Sidney regards poetry as the most fruitful form of knowledge and therefore as the monarch of all branches of learning. In this way Sidney glorifies poetry and ranks it not only above philosophy and history but also above the sciences like astronomy and geometry. He goes to the extreme when he says: "I still and utterly deny that there is, sprung out of earth a more fruitful knowledge (than poetry). It is off the mark to assert that poetry is the profoundest or the most fertile cause of knowledge. Poetry has its rightful place as an art which offers delight, pleasure, and moral instruction, which reveals the mysteries of the human mind and of human nature, which consoles in distresses and sorrows, which uplifts souls and transports into another world, and makes lives worth living. Similarly Sidney goes off the mark when he says that an astronomer, a geometrician, or a physician may tell lies but that a poet does not tell lies. We agree that a poet does not tell lies, but we do not admit that a scientist tells lies either. A scientist, whether he is an astronomer, a geometrician, or a physician, aims wholly at truth.

Points to Remember:

1.                  Introduction.

2.                  Poetry was the earliest form of composition.

3.                   Poetry is superior to philosophy.

4.                  Poetry is superior to history.

5.                  Poets were regarded as ‘vates’ and ‘maker’.

6.                  Poet’s world is golden world.

7.                  Poetry teaches and delights.

8.                  Conclusion.

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