Jessica on Ratiere

Martin Ratiere, "The Unity of Sidney's Apology" (Jessica Williams)

Martin Raitiere, in his article “The Unity of Sidney’s Apology for Poetry”, argues that Sidney’s Apology for Poetry is not contradictory as some have claimed. Raitiere refers to an argument presented by O. B. Hardison, Jr. where Hardison states, “Sidney’s criterion of value seems to change drastically within the oration,” which was also pointed out by Mark Roberts. It has long been debated that Sidney “switches gears” so to speak in his Apology for Poetry which led many to believe that the piece was actually being revised but could not be finished before Sidney’s death (39). Part of Sidney’s work was written from a viewpoint of a humanistic thinker while the latter half is written in the viewpoint of a neo-classical thinker.

In the article, Martin Raitiere argues that the piece by Sidney was not revised at all and is actually a mirror to show the complexity of poetry. Raitiere says, “we can understand why the object of Sidney’s attention changes (from universal to local) precisely at the moment his “voice” or criterion of value changes (from furiously humanistic to cautiously neo-classic)” (49). This goes to show that when Sidney was switching from one theme to the next (universal to local), he switches his viewpoint from humanistic to neo-classic. This specific way in which Sidney switches between viewpoints is proof that the change of viewpoint in Apology for Poetry “does not result from superaddition or interpolation” (57). This unifies the ways in which poetry is written and perceived by the readers due to the objectivity of the writing.

It is also noteworthy that Sidney believed there to be a difference between poets. Some just tell stories while others teach lessons. Sidney believed poetry that taught lessons was of higher value and that “by few men that art can be accomplished”. He is more interested in the art itself and not the artist and is always reminding the reader of Apology of Poetry of the “distance between poetry in its general definition and all the merely local performances” (49). With Sidney’s piece, he is defending poetry and it’s nobility so that he, and others, can write poetry without being dropped in his class standing. The idea that poetry was only written as a hobby for gentlemen of a higher class is being challenged in The Apology of Poetry and feeds into the complexity of the piece as well as attempting to justify the ‘career poet’. The complex way in which Sidney is trying to normalize the idea of a career poet is reflected in the debate of how The Apology of Poetry was written by Sidney. It is made clear by Raitiere that Sidney did not begin to revise his writings before his death but was very conscientious of the way in which he was writing his argument for the nobility of poetry.