Lecture Notes, Thusday, June 5: The Defense of Poesy and Astrophil and Stella

5 June 2008
Lecture Notes

English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth

Philip Sidney, The Defence of Poesy and Astrophil and Stella

Outline
*The Defence of Poesy
~structure and argument
~major ideas
*Astrophil and Stella: an Offence of Poetry?
~backstory
~the book of nature
~relationship of art and experience
~interior world of the poet vs. social world

The Defence of Poesy
Structure
*Intro: the horseman’s self-promotion
*pg. 260-261 the relationship of poetry to philosophy and history
*261 their reliance on poetry: “neither philospher nor historiographer could at the first have entered into the gates of popular judgements if they had not taken a great passport of poetry”
*history of poetry: 261 “vates” (prophet) and Greek term for “poet” (maker)
*263 purpose of poetry (teach and delight)
*types of poetry: divine, philosophical, and (264) poets of “invention” (no verse required)
*265 knocks down philosophers and historians as contenders for the prize of best type of moralizer (265, adds laywers into the mix)
*266+ the benefit of “feigned example”
*270 a mini conclusion, top left of page
*the capacity of poetry to “move”
*causing its audience to take in the moral lesson even if they don’t realize it (271)
*272-4 types of poetry: Pastoral, Elegaic, satire (Iambic), Comic, Tragic, Lyric*, Heroical
*275L summary of argument thus far
*276+ objections lodged against poets
*276-7 they waste time; they lie; they abuseth men’s wit
*277-8 the best tools can be used for ill
*the philosphers are jealous of poetry and poets
*poets follow culture
*281 the final section of the defence: the enquiry into England
*English language is fully capable BUT
*playwrights are irresponsible
*songs and sonnets aren’t that nice


Major ideas
*natural philosphy (sciences), philosophy, history, depend on nature as their objects, but (262)

“Only the poet, disdaining to be tied to any such subjection, lifted up with the vigour of his own invention, doth grow in effect into another nature, in making things either better than nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms such as never were in nature…so as he goes hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within the narrow wrrant of her gifts, but freely ranging within the zodiac of his own wit.”

*Relation between the poet as maker and god as maker (263)

“Neither let it be deemed too saucy a comparison to balance the highest point of man’s wit with the efficacy of nature; but rather give right honor to the heavenly maker of that maker, who, having made man to his own lieness, set him beyond and over all the works of that second nature: which in nothing he showeth so much as in poetry, when with the force of a divine breath he bringeth things forth surpassing her doings – with no small arguments to the incredulous of that first accused fall of Adam, since our erected wit maketh us know what perfectin is, and yet our infected will keepeth us from reaching unto it.”

*Poetry’s purpose (263):

“Poesy is an art of imitation…that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth – to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture – with this end, to teach and delight.”

*Method (264):
“For these third be they [poets who use invention / imagination] which most properly do imitate to teach & delight, and to imitate borrow nothing of what is, hath been, or shall be; but range, only reined with learned discretion, into the divine consideration of what may be and should be.”


*the violence of poetry (266)
“the philosopher bestoweth but a wordish description, which doth neither strike, pierce, nor possess the sight of the soul so much as that other doth”

*Aristotle’s definitions (268)
“poesy dealeth with…the universal consideration, and the history with…the particular.” – slippage in Sidney’s ideas vs Aristotle’s – “universal condition” vs. “as it should be”


Astrophil and Stella
*note idea of the book of nature
*defense of poesy 276-7 – how does Sidney’s poetry compare to the defense he offers here? Compare also to his further thoughts on English songs and sonnets, 285
*backstory
*the book of nature
*relationship of art and experience
*interior world of the poet vs. social world


Workshop: essay writing
How to Build an Essay
1. Before you begin writing:
* choose a topic you like, applied to a work you enjoy or are interested in/challenged by
* read or re-read the text, jot down some first thoughts
* consider what the topic means to you
* let it ferment

Fermentation means giving the ideas you’ve absorbed time to filter through your thoughts and for your mind to make the connections between different points in the text. Taking a break in between steps of the researching and writing process is to my way of thinking the single most important and helpful thing you can do. It’s not procrastination – you’re just taking a step back from intensive engagement with the work so your mind can do its thing. Especially when the topic of your research is literature, this process is intuitive, not logical.

Good things to do while you let things ferment: anything repetitive that does not fully engage your logic circuits. Driving, laundry, cleaning, gardening, going for a hike, cooking, putting on music and dancing around – anything relatively solitary that gives you space to process your ideas without actively engaging them is great. This way, you can create the space you need to have a flash of inspiration.

2. Gathering evidence, preliminary thoughts, outlining:
* return to the text
* organize your findings
* build your essay outline from the evidence up
* let the text speak for itself
* tentative thesis statement
* let it ferment

3. Writing
* compose a first draft, following your outline if possible, deviating from it where your developing ideas or discoveries dictate
* include the following components:
~ intro paragraph(s), with statement of topic preliminary thesis, and brief outline of
argument
~ as many body paragraphs as necessary to make your argument work. Each body
paragraph should include the following:
~a topic sentence telling your reader how the paragraph will fit into your overall
argument
~ evidence from the text to support your point
~ some discussion of why that evidence is significant
~ and a mini-conclusion statement that wraps up the point of the paragraph
~ a conclusion

As you write, Consider William G. Perry’s description of the writing process: “First you make a mess, then you clean it up.”
* LET IT FERMENT

4. Revision
* view revision as a distinct task from writing
* it’s better to remove and refine than to add during revision
* clean up loose ends—you can’t say everything in an essay
* make sure that each paragraph has what it needs
~ focus on refining your thesis and making your introduction as strong as possible
~ preserve forward momentum
* let it ferment
* re-read, revisit, and revise again until you feel it’s as good as it can be

5. Notes on Style
* keep it simple: bigger is not better when it comes to vocabulary
* complex ideas can be explained simply
* explain yourself as clearly as possible


Sample opening paragraphs
1.
The revenge tragedy is a common genre of literary works. A revenge tragedy “in Seneca’s tragedies horrifying events take place offstage (and are only reported by the actors); in Elizabethan Senecan tragedies, pitched at a popular audience, events are brought on stage for the audience to see and experience. This form of Senecan tragedy is commonly called the revenge tragedy” (Bedford Glossary, 405). William Shakespeare created many great revenge tragedies one being Titus Andronicus. This revenge tragedy depicts many different schemes characters plot for revenge upon each other. The two main characters, Titus, a Roman general, and Tamora, the queen of the Goths (and later the Empress of Rome), display the true significance of enemies. The revenge against each other becomes a constant conspiracy to harm each other. This eventually leads to the downfall of both these characters but it leaves one question to be answered. Who is the tragic hero in Titus Andronicus, Titus or Tamora?



2.
Time is evidently central to the plot of Shakespeare’s Macbeth from the beginning, with the initial prophecies of the three witches, and Banquo’s subsequent inquiry into his own future: “If you can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grains will grow, and which will not, / Speak, then, to me” (1.3.57). As Scotland descends into a realm of darkness, the land is terrorized by raging storms and “unnatural” happenings. Temporality and nature are paralleled, both reflecting the effects of evil deeds upon the earth and upon the future. Ghostly visits layer past upon present and alter the future by planting seeds that sprout into paranoid delusions inside the villainous minds of Macbeth and the Lady Macbeth at his side. When Macbeth commits murder to obtain the crown, nature and time become disoriented and it is not until the final act that “the time is free” (5.8.55), and the world is restored to order at last.

3.
In modern literature the underdog character is a treasured favourite. Readers love the average man beating the odds and rising above his allotted station in life. In 17th century Britain the opposite is true: the underdog is feared and despised because his attempts for success destabilizes the highly rigid social structure. With this view in mind, the hero is the common man who knows his place and is content with his lot in life. The villain is the disruptive person either with aspirations above his station, or deemed unworthy of his status. In this situation sympathy is developed for the deserving average man, who fulfils his role in society by simply knowing and maintaining his place. Disdain is engendered for the overreaching villain who attempts to disrupt the known social structure and who aspires to a greater status. In The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, The Wonderfull Yeare by Thomas Dekker and “The Learned Wife” by John Dryden, the authors emphasize the belief that those who strive to improve their social stature should not succeed. In order to effectively demonstrate their point, the authors use a variety of literary techniques to manufacture enmity for those characters failing to fit in with approved social standards. The ending for each character, the language used to describe the particular characters and the type of humour used in relation to the characters are exploited by the authors to display a definite opinion on the quality of certain characters in their respective works. These also serve as warnings to the readers of their works on the danger of overreaching their social status.

4.
In the works of both Shakespeare and Jonson, many strong female characters appear. In Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, and All’s Well that Ends Well, and in Jonson’s Epicene, the female characters are portrayed as the opposite to the ‘silent woman’ type. In both Shakespeare and Jonson, the women are characterized, for the most part positively, as strong women who are rewarded by the end of the plays for their break with the traditional feminine model. This will be made evident through the discussion of the characters of Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, and Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Helen and Diana in All’s Well that Ends Well, and Epicene, Mrs. Otter and the Ladies Collegiate in Epicene.