Sidney's 'The Defence of Poesy' and Selected Renaissance Literary Criticism [Paperback]

Controversy raged through England during the 1570-80s as Puritans denounced all manner of games & pastimes as a danger to public morals. Writers quickly turrned their attention to their own art and the first and most influential response came with Philip Sidney's Defense. Here he set out to answer contemporary critics and, with reference to Classical models of criticism, formulated a manifesto for English literature. Also includes George Puttenham'sArt of English Poesy, Samuel Daniel'sDefence of Rhyme, and passages by writers such as Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon, and George Gascoigne.

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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
fromMusophilus: Containing a General Defence of Learning (1599)

Thomas Campion
fromObservations in the Art of English (1602)

Francis Bacon
fromThe Advancement of Learning (16ls)