Reviews

An Apology for Poetry: Or The Defence of Poesy by Robert W. Maslen, Philip Sidney

sagehaviland222's review against another edition

challenging funny informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.5

elifreads's review against another edition

4.0

It took me a very long time to read this, but it was definitely worth my time. Sidney responds to the accusations to poetry in a very convincing way, with many literary references to classical texts. He also very cleverly assesses the position of poetry as the "monarch" of all arts, while refuting other critics' ideas on the way.
Although the text was very hard to understand at first, the footnotes helped me a lot, and gradually i got used to his style. Also, what an ending!
Definitely learned a lot from this critical text, I'm glad i read it.

madbr0wnie's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

andyn5's review against another edition

4.0

I had to read "An Apology for Poetry" in my first year of my Literature Bachelor and at the time I most say I hated it. It was a very complicated read, and a mandatory on top of that. A year later I read it again and this time I actually got to understand more and really get importance of poetry and Sidney's point of view.

Sidney's defense of poetry is brilliantly presented and justified with many examples take backup his argument, all this while using a very rich and extensive vocabulary that shows how much more the English languages has to offer.

ketelenlefkovich's review against another edition

3.0

This was not as difficult or impassable as I thought it would be.
But the arguments are borderling dumb like he sounds like such a white man (which he is) making a case about something.
Anyway read this for my master but adding anyway because yeah.

niamhduffy44's review against another edition

For college