Introduction
Sir Philip Sidney is one of the great critics of English Literature. He is recalled for the moralistic defence of poetry. That is why, he gives a considerable space describing the greatness and superiority of poetry over other forms of learning. Before discussing why Sidney has regarded poetry as superior to philosophy and history. Let us define what is philosophy and history, and what is their core function. Philosophy is a branch of knowledge that tries to answer the questions related to human existence as well as solutions for the problems of life. The main function of philosophy is to instruct. While history deals with narrating the events happened in the past and such narration is its main function as well. Let's return back to our subject.
Early Mingling of Poetry, Philosophy and History
To assert the greatness of poetry, Sidney affirms that the first form ever written was the poetry itself. He even goes on to suggest that in the past, there was no distinction between poets, historians as well as the philosophers. For instance, Solon, the one who wrote the constitution for Athens wrote poetry. Plato, who was also a philosopher, wrote his dialogues in eloquent poetic diction. Romans used to revere the poets by calling them seers or prophets. Sidney, then, suggests that Bible is also a kind of "Divine Poem", to indicate a reader "God coming in His majesty".
Why is Poetry Superior over Philosophy and History?
Sidney gives several reasons why poetry is superior to philosophy and history. The first reason for the greatness of poetry is the vivid and compelling portrayal of something. Poetry tells a reader not only what can be and what cannot be but also what should be. But a philosopher only theorizes the certain aspect of life. Yet the image painted by a poet is perfect because he or she utilizes the power of imagination. Furthermore, history only narrates the events of past with little to no instruction found in it. But poetry can utilize any timeframe, be it past, present and even future to instruct mankind. As asserted in my previous article, Sidney considers poetry the best source of learning virtue as compared to philosophy and history because it reaches a person through the strong examples that can leave a strong impact than the abstraction found within philosophy.
The most compelling reason behind the dominance of poetry is its utilization of the essence of both philosophy and history. Such mingling makes the process of learning noble virtues much easier and it does not require any background knowledge of something to proceed. A similar poetic trend can be found within Bible which can be termed as the Divine Poetic Genius consisting of both philosophy and history.
Conclusion
Due to such merits of poetry, Sidney regards poetry as the "monarch" (king) of all arts. He successfully proves that poetry can be superior to philosophy and history. But it must be noted that both history and philosophy have their own distinct place in the process of learning. But these two spheres of learning can transmit more effectively when paired with poetry.
