‘An Apology for Poetry’ by Sir Philip Sidney; Brief-answer

Questions

An Apology for Poetry

By Sir Philip Sidney
1. In what literary age does Sir Philip Sidney belong?
Ans: Sir Philip Sidney belongs to the Elizabethan age.
2. What is Sidney’s contribution to English criticism?
Ans: Sydney’s contribution to English criticism is An
Apology for Poetry, a spirited defence of poetry against
all the charges laid against it since Plato.
3. What is “An Apology for Poetry”?
Ans: “An Apology for Poetry” is a literary criticism by
Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney. It is a reaction against
the attacks made on poetry by Stephen Gosson.
4. What was the original title of An Apology for Poetry?
Ans: The original title of An Apology for Poetry is In
Defence of Poesie.
5. What is the title of the book given by its writer?
Ans: The title of the book, An Apology for Poetry, given
by its writer is In Defence of Poesie.
6. Why did Sidney express his apology for poetry?
Ans: Sidney expressed his apology for poetry because he
was a lover of poetry and was a poet.
7. Who is Stephen Gosson? [NU 2017]
Ans: Stephen Gosson was an English satirist who
condemned poetry as immoral and mischievous.
8. What is the name of the book written by Stephen
Gosson in which he attacked poetry?

Ans: The name of the book written by Stephen Gosson in

which he attacked poetry is The School of Abuse.
9. What is pedanteria?
Ans: Pedanteria refers to the person who ostentatiously
exhibits academic knowledge or who pays undue
attention to minor details or formal rules.
10. Who is Patro Pugliano?
Ans: Patro Pugliano is a trainer of horse riding to the
emperors of Italy. Sir Philip Sidney learnt horsemAns:hip
from him.
 11. What is the first charge brought against poetry?

Ans: The first charge brought against poetry is that there

being many other more fruitful branches of knowledge, a
man might better spend his time in them than in this.

12. How does Sidney prove that poets are not liars?
[NU 2016]
Ans: Sidney proves that poets are not liars by saying that
a poet “never affirmeth” anything. He makes the claim
that all statements in literature are hypothetical or
pseudo-statements.
15. What did Plato say about poets in his Republic?
Ans: In his Republic, Plato says that the productions of
the poets are imitations of imperfect copies of an ideal
life and can teach us nothing valuable about life.
16. What is “Antiquity”?
Ans: Antiquity literarily refers to the ancient past,
especially the period before the Middle Ages. According
to Sir Philip Sydney, poetry has antiquity in the sense that
it has preceded other branches of learning in all nations.
17. Who was Homer?
Ans: Homer is best known as the author of the Iliad and
the Odyssey. He was believed to have been the first and
greatest of the epic poets.
18. Who was Dante?
Ans: Dante was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary
theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker.
19. Who was Petrarch?
Ans: Petrarch was an Italian scholar and poet, most
famous for having invented the sonnet.
20. Who was Herodotus?
Ans: Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in
Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire.
21. Who was Pythagoras?
Ans: Pythagoras was an Ionian Greek philosopher,
mathematician, and supposed founder of the
Pythagoreanism movement.
22. Who was Plato?
Ans: Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher. He was a
student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle.
23. What or who is Muse?
Ans: A Muse is one of the nine daughters of Zeus. They
were the source of inspiration in art and science.
24. What is ‘Delphi’?
Ans: In ancient Greece, Delphi was the seat of the famous
oracle that powerful people consulted for advice.
25. What is Oracle of Delphi?
Ans: Oracle of Delphi is the name of the High Priestess of
the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
27. What does the word “poet” mean?
Ans: The word “poet” means maker
30. What did the Romans call a poet?
Ans: The Romans called a poet “Vates”.
31. What do you mean by the term ‘Vates’? [NU 2017]
Ans: The term ‘Vates’ means a diviner, foreseer, or
prophet.

33. What are the four ‘most important imputations’ that,

according to Sidney, have been’ ‘laid to the door of
poets’?
Ans: The four ‘most important imputations’ that,
according to Sidney, have been’ ‘laid to the door of poets’
are given below.
i. There are many other more fruitful knowledges
than poetry
ii. Poetry is the mother of lies.
iii. It is the nurse of abuse
iv. Plato banished the poets out of his Commonwealth
34. What is the aim/purpose of poetry? [NU 2017]
Ans: The purpose of poetry, according to Sydney, is to
teach and delight.
35. How does a poet teach a moral lesson?
Ans: A poet teaches a moral lesson through both
precepts and practical examples.
36. What is the moving power of poetry?
Ans: The moving power of poetry is that it can influence
the behaviour and conduct of the readers by moving
their minds and stirring their hearts.
37. In how many kinds does Sidney divide poetry?
Ans: Sidney divides poetry into three kinds:
(a) religious poetry,
(b) philosophical poetry, and
© poetry as an imaginative treatment of life and nature.
39. Who is Sophocles? [NU 2016]
Ans: Sophocles was one of the most famous and
celebrated writers of tragedy in ancient Greece.
40. Who is Achilles?
Ans: In Greek mythology, Achilles was the greatest hero
of the Trojan War and the central character of Homer’s
epic poem Iliad.
41. Who is Ulysses?
Ans: Ulysses is the hero of the Odyssey by Homer.
42. Who is Dido?
Ans: Dido is the queen of Carthage. She fell in love with
Aeneas, a Trojan hero, and burnt herself on a pyre.
43. Who is Agamemnon?
Ans: In Greek mythology, Agamemnon, son of King Atreus
and Queen Aerope, is the king of Mycenae.
44. What is tragedy according to Sidney?
Ans: According to Sidney, tragedy is an imitation of a
noble action, in the representation of which it stirs
“admiration and commiseration” and teaches the
uncertainty of the world and the weak foundations upon
which golden roofs are built.
45. What is Gorboduc?
Ans: “Gorboduc” is the first English tragedy by Thomas
Norton.
46. Who was Euripedes?
Ans: Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens.
47. What did the contemporary English tragedy lack in
construction according to Sidney?

Ans: According to Sidney, the contemporary English

tragedy lacked the unity of time and place.

48. What fault does Sidney detect in contemporary love

lyrics?
Ans: The fault Sidney detects in contemporary love lyrics
is that they are laden with cold and artificial passion.
49. What kind of critic is Philip Sidney?
Ans: Philip Sidney is a perceptive practical critic.