3 h 33 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 33 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if poetry does more than please us—what if it teaches us how to live?
Philip Sidney takes on a blunt accusation: poets are liars who waste our time. In A Defence of Poesie, also known as An Apology for Poetry, he asks what poetry does and why society needs it. His answer brings imagination into a contest with philosophy and history over how best to teach and move us.
This collection places Sidney's argument beside his poems, above all the sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella. Here, a lover tries to write his way to a woman's heart. The essay considers poetry's power to teach and delight; the poems let you explore that power through the words of a lover trying to win love.
What you’ll discover
- An unexpected opening Meet John Pietro Pugliano, whose praise of horsemanship makes Sidney half wish to be a horse.
- Imagination with a purpose Explore Sidney's idea of poetry as a speaking picture that aims to teach and delight.
- A defence against distrust Follow his answers to charges that poetry tells lies and wastes time better spent elsewhere.
- A lover seeks words Enter Astrophil and Stella, where the effort to write becomes part of the pursuit of love.
- Argument beside poetry Read the defence alongside Sidney's poems and consider how his practice meets his claims.
Who will love it
For readers who love Elizabethan England, who enjoy a lively argument about why stories and songs matter, or who want sonnets and pastoral songs from the courtier poet of Astrophel and Stella.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A courtier answers the enemies of poetry
- Poetry is the oldest teacher and a maker
- Poetry is a speaking picture that teaches and delights
- The poet teaches better than philosopher or historian
- Moving the heart matters more than teaching the mind
- Every kind of poetry has a worthy use
- The four charges against poetry fail
- England needs better poets, and the poems show the art
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A Defence of Poesie and Poems
A courtier who nearly wished to be a horse argues that poets, not philosophers, are the true teachers of virtue.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Picture a riding master at the Emperor's court in Vienna who praises horses so loudly that his pupil says he nearly wished to be one. That is how Philip Sidney opens his defence of poetry, with a joke at his own expense.
A Defence of Poesie and Poems at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h1 h 35 min fast, 2 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 28,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A courtier answers the enemies of poetry
Philip Sidney was born in 1554 at Penshurst in Kent. He travelled through France, Germany, Hungary and Italy, and he was in Paris on the day of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. By his early twenties he was sent as an ambassador to the new Emperor.
In 1580 Sidney left court for a time, after writing the Queen an argument against her marriage to the Duke of Anjou. He stayed at Wilton with his sister Mary, the Countess of Pembroke. There he wrote his romance Arcadia for her amusement.
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- 15-minute summary
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Cite this edition
Sidney, Philip. A Defence of Poesie and Poems. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-defence-of-poesie-and-poems.
Sidney, P. (2026). A defence of poesie and poems. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-defence-of-poesie-and-poems
Sidney, Philip. A Defence of Poesie and Poems. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-defence-of-poesie-and-poems.
@book{sidney2026defence,
author = {Sidney, Philip},
title = {A Defence of Poesie and Poems},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-defence-of-poesie-and-poems}
}
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What is A Defence of Poesie about?
It argues that poetry is the oldest form of learning and the best teacher of virtue. Sidney answers common attacks, such as that poets lie or corrupt readers, and he compares poetry with philosophy and history.
Why did Philip Sidney write the Defence of Poesie?
He wrote it around 1581, partly in reply to Stephen Gosson, whose pamphlet The School of Abuse attacked poets and players and was dedicated to Sidney. The essay defends poetry against Puritan criticism.
Why is it also called An Apology for Poetry?
The first printing in 1595 used the title An Apologie for Poetrie. Apology here means a defence, not an expression of regret; the introduction therefore prefers the later title Defence for modern readers.
The author
Philip Sidney
1554–1586 · English Renaissance poet
Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and diplomat, born in Kent in 1554. He lived in England and travelled in Europe. He wrote The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, Astrophil and Stella, and A Defence of Poesy during the late 1570s and 1580s. He died in Arnhem in 1586.
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