Reading: Sir Philip Sidney, An Apology for Poetry (CT, 143–162)

      Question: In what respects, according to Sidney, is the poet a “maker” (CT, 145)?

      Explanatory note: The word “apology” comes from the Greek apología, which means “defense speech.” The word is used in this sense in the title of Plato’s Apology of Socrates, and it is so used by Sidney in the title of this work. In either case, it carries no implication of contrition or of making amends. Another version of the work was published around the same time (both versions being published after the author’s death) under the title “A Defence of Poesie.”
 
 

      Reading: Although no reading in literary theory is assigned, you will be expected to have read Sophocles’ Oedipus the King by this date, as the class session will be devoted to discussing the play in relation to the various theories of poetry that we have examined so far. Please bring your copy of the play to class. You may use any translation, although, for the sake of common reference, ones that give line numbers are preferable.

      Writing assignment (4–6 pages): Explain the views of Plato (in Ion), Aristotle (Poetics), and Longinus (On the Sublime) on the question whether, or in what respects, the composition of poetry is or is not a matter of “art,” and adjudicate which account is the most satisfactory.