WEEK FIVE: QUESTIONS ON SIDNEY'S "AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY"

1. What are the four main criticisms directed against poetry, according to Sidney?
2. Why, according to Sidney, can the poet never be accused of lying?
3. Why, according to Sidney, is it perhaps more appropriate to call the poet a ‘prophet’ rather than merely a ‘maker’?
4. What, according to Sidney, is the important function performed by poetry?
5. Why, according to Sidney, is poetry a superior form of knowledge to both philosophy and history?
6. What does Sidney mean when he describes philosophy, history, and even the Bible as inherently poetical?  How does this view undermine Plato's desire to banish poetry from his ideal state?