Mack, Michael. Sidney’s Poetics: Imitating Creation. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2005.
Michael Mack’s book focuses chiefly on a small but critically important section of Sir Philip Sidney’s Apology for Poetry where Sidney claims that the poet is not merely an imitator, but rather a creator. The idea that a poet could create things rather than merely imitate them was, in 1582, a rather brazen idea considering that much of Europe believed God alone had the power to actually create things. Mack traces the long history of ideas that leads up to Sidney’s assertion, an assertion that gave birth to the “idea of human creativity” (ix). He argues that the standard theories regarding this transfer of creative powers from God to man are not adequate, and offers an alternate theory which also accounts for the birth of modernity and argues that sacred values are not necessarily opposed to secular values and the “continuities between medieval and Renaissance culture, between the Renaissance and the romantic period, and between theological speculation and literary theory” are recognized (x). Admitting that Sidney has been interpreted in many different ways, and that Sidney’s writing is at times unclear and even contradictory, he reads Sidney anew to discover exactly what ideas Sidney was conveying and where those ideas were coming from. He borrows from and makes use of the “history of ideas” approach, an approach he introduces by first defending it against New Historicism’s criticism of it. Both camps are used, however, in order to understand Sidney; it is shown, for example, that the New Historicists have been instrumental in stressing the religious foundations of Sidney’s thought.
The first chapter traces the origins of the discovery of human creativity and includes engaging and cogent explications of the threads of thought that lead up to and influence Sidney’s Apology, beginning as far back as Nicholas of Cusa’s assertion that man is “‘another god,’” who rules over the earth as God rules over the universe” (18). The second chapter briefly describes the literary climate Sidney lived in and explains that it was a time when two approaches to poetry prevailed ― the allegorical and the rhetorical. Sidney combines these two approaches to come up with a third approach that centers on his “Idea or fore-conceit,” so that a poetic work acts like an allegory in its power to convey truth but also acts like an oration in its power to move the reader to action.
Understanding Sidney depends on understanding Sidney’s terminology, and so chapter three devotes time to looking at the word “Idea” as it fleshes out exactly what the term meant to Sidney. Acknowledging the debt to Erwin Panofsky, the chapter traces the “long and complex” history of the word “Idea.” Chapter four continues defining Sidney’s terminology by looking at another term of Sidney’s terms, namely “creativity.” Again, it does a thorough job of getting at exactly what Sidney means when he uses this term as well as trace the origins of the term. Ultimately, what is stressed is the importance of patristic thought(a thought that synthesized Christian and Platonic ideas on creation) for Sidney and how it illuminates the Idea or fore-conceit.
The fifth chapter points out that Sidney did not so much care about the poet and his inspiration, but rather the effect the poem had on its readers, thereby aligning Sidney with the Aristotelian preoccupation concerning poetry. For Sidney, the final effect of a poem must be its good moral instruction upon its readers; a good poem results in moving the reader to do good things. This theme is picked up in chapter six as Sidney’s statement that Xenophon’s Cyrus is a “Cyrus to make many Cyruses” is commented on. The implication is that the reader, morally moved by the exemplary Cyrus, will perform good actions, thereby making more Cyruses by their good example. The effect of this exemplary Cyrus ― or poem ― is hence twofold, since it not only prompts the reader to do good things, but as a result also directs the reader’s attention to his self and his own inadequacies and faults. The final chapter examines theories of modernity and theories of creativity and how they influence each other as well as define who we are. The Renaissance is viewed as the birthplace of our modern struggle to define ourselves and find meaning without God. Looked at from this perspective, Sidney’s Apology is seen as one transitional step along that road that has led to modernity.
The book is logical throughout and refreshingly tenacious as it reaches back through time and traces the origins of our ideas about creativity. One idea is explicated and then shown how it influences the birth of another idea. We learn how two ideas merge into a third or how one idea seems to be present throughout history but more keenly felt in one era as opposed to another. The amount of research involved in creating the book is commendable ― the bibliography alone spans fifteen pages and is an excellent resource for those wishing to study further. The reading, moreover, is not overly dense or difficult in its delivery; ideas are explained cogently and logically and large spans of time are dealt with effectively and relatively complicated ideas untangled. Taking Sidney’s Apology as its starting point, Mack’s Sidney’s Poetics effectively reaches back into the past as well as reaches forward into the present, ultimately helping us to clarify what we know about ourselves, and how we have come to know it.
The first chapter traces the origins of the discovery of human creativity and includes engaging and cogent explications of the threads of thought that lead up to and influence Sidney’s Apology, beginning as far back as Nicholas of Cusa’s assertion that man is “‘another god,’” who rules over the earth as God rules over the universe” (18). The second chapter briefly describes the literary climate Sidney lived in and explains that it was a time when two approaches to poetry prevailed ― the allegorical and the rhetorical. Sidney combines these two approaches to come up with a third approach that centers on his “Idea or fore-conceit,” so that a poetic work acts like an allegory in its power to convey truth but also acts like an oration in its power to move the reader to action.
Understanding Sidney depends on understanding Sidney’s terminology, and so chapter three devotes time to looking at the word “Idea” as it fleshes out exactly what the term meant to Sidney. Acknowledging the debt to Erwin Panofsky, the chapter traces the “long and complex” history of the word “Idea.” Chapter four continues defining Sidney’s terminology by looking at another term of Sidney’s terms, namely “creativity.” Again, it does a thorough job of getting at exactly what Sidney means when he uses this term as well as trace the origins of the term. Ultimately, what is stressed is the importance of patristic thought(a thought that synthesized Christian and Platonic ideas on creation) for Sidney and how it illuminates the Idea or fore-conceit.
The fifth chapter points out that Sidney did not so much care about the poet and his inspiration, but rather the effect the poem had on its readers, thereby aligning Sidney with the Aristotelian preoccupation concerning poetry. For Sidney, the final effect of a poem must be its good moral instruction upon its readers; a good poem results in moving the reader to do good things. This theme is picked up in chapter six as Sidney’s statement that Xenophon’s Cyrus is a “Cyrus to make many Cyruses” is commented on. The implication is that the reader, morally moved by the exemplary Cyrus, will perform good actions, thereby making more Cyruses by their good example. The effect of this exemplary Cyrus ― or poem ― is hence twofold, since it not only prompts the reader to do good things, but as a result also directs the reader’s attention to his self and his own inadequacies and faults. The final chapter examines theories of modernity and theories of creativity and how they influence each other as well as define who we are. The Renaissance is viewed as the birthplace of our modern struggle to define ourselves and find meaning without God. Looked at from this perspective, Sidney’s Apology is seen as one transitional step along that road that has led to modernity.
The book is logical throughout and refreshingly tenacious as it reaches back through time and traces the origins of our ideas about creativity. One idea is explicated and then shown how it influences the birth of another idea. We learn how two ideas merge into a third or how one idea seems to be present throughout history but more keenly felt in one era as opposed to another. The amount of research involved in creating the book is commendable ― the bibliography alone spans fifteen pages and is an excellent resource for those wishing to study further. The reading, moreover, is not overly dense or difficult in its delivery; ideas are explained cogently and logically and large spans of time are dealt with effectively and relatively complicated ideas untangled. Taking Sidney’s Apology as its starting point, Mack’s Sidney’s Poetics effectively reaches back into the past as well as reaches forward into the present, ultimately helping us to clarify what we know about ourselves, and how we have come to know it.