Sidney’s Defense of Plato.docVIP

Sidney’s Defense of Plato 　　The source of Sidneys The Defense of Poesy has always been a hot spot for scholars because of his direct quoting from Aristotle while seemingly in accordance with Plato. Whether the source is more likely to be Aristotle or Plato can only be determined through a delve into the underlying assumptions of Sidney’s definition and classification of imitation， along with a comparison with those of Aristotle and Plato. Both Sidneys The Defense of Poesy and Aristotle’s Poetics can be seen as the defenses of poetry. “Poesy， therefore， is an art of imitation， for so Aristotle termeth it in the word mimesis， that is to say， a representing， counterfeiting or figuring forth ?C to speak metaphorically， a speaking picture ?C with this end： to teach and delight.”（Leitch， 258） This is how Sidney related himself to Aristotle in his definition of Poetry. Indeed， his “teach and delight” theory can be traced in Aristotles proposition that “man…learns his first lessons through representation” and that “everyone delights in representation” （Leitch， 90）， which means both of them admit the entertaining and teaching effect of imitation. However， the phrase “delightful teaching” in other passages is reserved for discussion later. When Aristotle mentions imitation， he means in most cases the imitation of “the action of men”. Tragedy， according to Aristotle， is imitation “not of human beings but of action and life.” （Leitch， 93） It is in action that all happiness and unhappiness lay and it is the origin and soul of tragedy， without which there would be no tragedy. That is why he put plot in the first place for plot is about action. However， Sidney links imitation metaphorically to “a speaking picture”. According to him， imitation is thus like a still picture， except that it also talks. For the picture， one may want to think about looking at it first before hearing it. It is nothing like Aristotles imitation of “action” which can make us think about the plot，