Superiority of Poetry
Sidney, in his essay �An Apology for Poetry� gives poetry a place of honour above both philosophy and history and he says that poetry is the noblest medium of knowledge because it teacher us virtue and because it moves our minds to pursue virtuous action. There is no other branch of learning which can perform these two functions more effectively than poetry. Sidney asserts that there is no other knowledge more fruitful in this world than that which poetry supplies to the readers .It is the profoundest or the most fertile cause of knowledge or source of knowledge or repository of knowledge .He has compared poetry with other branches of knowledge. He first claims the superiority of poetry as a medium of knowledge over moral philosophy .The philosopher is likely to say that it is he who really teaches human beings what virtue is, what the causes and effects of virtue are, and what vice or passion means. In other words, the philosopher claims to be a better teacher of virtue and virtuous c...