An Apology for Poetry (or The Defence of Poesy), by the celebrated soldier-poet
Sir Philip Sidney, is the most important work of literary theory published in th
e Renaissance. The new introduction and notes include a wealth of new informatio
n and new readings drawing on recent developments in Renassance Studies. Unfamil
iar words and phrases are glossed, classical and other references explained, and
difficult passages analysed in detail.
The first separate edition of Sidney'
s seminal text to be published for more than a decade. Since 1965 Geoffrey Sheph
erd's edition of the Apology has been the standard, and this revision of Shepher
d's edition, with a new introduction and extensive notes, is designed to introdu
ce Sidney's best-known work to a new generation of readers at the beginning.
