Written ca. 1582-85. Circulated in manuscript many years but not published until 1595, when THE DEFENSE OF POESIE and AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY appeared -- same work, different titles, printed by different publishers.  Page numbers below refer to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Seventh Edition.

In structure, an ORATION: a carefully planned, organized, judicial argument.

I. EXORDIUM: announcing the topic in such as way as to gain attention and good will (p.934, first section)

Here Sidney creates a metaphor comparing the value of poetry to the value of horsemanship to appeal to his noble (but perhaps less literary) readers; he identifies the writers against whom he is arguing (such as Stephen Gosson, whose "School of Abuses" attacked literature, drama and poetry as sources of immorality and social disruption).

II. NARRATIO: statement of facts of the case (begins p. 935, "Since the authors . . ." and ends p. 937, ". . . to teach and delight.")

- neither philosophy nor history precedent to poetry
- Romans honored poet as vates: prophet (935)
- Greeks honored poet as poiein: to make (936)
- there is no art of man doesn't have its basis in nature, but only the poet creates and brings forth another nature (936-7)

III. PROPOSTIO: thesis or argument

- poetry is the art of imitation
- its purpose is to teach and delight
- Three major kinds of poets/poetry (938):

1. chief: imitates excellencies of God (psalms)
2. deals with philosophical matters-(may not be properly poetry) – 3. SUBJECT OF THIS DISCOURSE: "right poets" who imitate to teach and delight, and when imitating borrow nothing of what is, was, will be, but range into divine consideration of what may and should be (e.g. Xenophon presents in Cyrus a perfect king).

- "ladder of wit" (938)
- verse as an ornament of poetry, not a cause (939)
- one knows a poet by that feigning of notable images ; "of vices, virtues, etc., that teach delightfully" (939)

IV. CONFIRMATIO: evidence that supports thesis (p. 939, "This purifying of wit . . ." to p. 931, ". . . honor the poet’s triumph.")

- effect of poetry on reader
- final end of poetry: to lead or draw us to as high a perfection as we're capable of attaining (939)
- end of all earthly learning is virtuous action (940)
- the poet, "the right popular philosopher," effects this better than the historian or philosopher. The philosopher teaches by precept, the historian by example(941)
- problem with history: its lessons are not always moral (941)
- problem with philosophy: its lessons are not always understandable (942)
- Only poetry teaches good morality in a realistic, understandable way — i.e., the "sugared pill" (942)
- poetry’s efficacy enhanced by its variety — lists poetic genres, all of which have their strengths (943-46).   Sidney expands his assertion that poetry is as moral an art as philosophy by breaking it down into genres in order to see whether any one kind of poetry is less moral than another:

- Pastoral
- Elegy
- Iamb
- Satire
- Comedy
- Tragedy
- Lyric
- Epic

- Of course, he argues, each genre has a long tradition of moral excellence, so therefore poetry as a whole is morally excellent.

V. REFUTATIO: answering arguments against poetry (p. 947, "Now then we go . . ." to p. 948, ". . . blow upon the clear springs of poesy.")

VI. DIGRESSIO: concerns of practical poet (p. 948, "But since I have run so long a career . . ." to p. 953, ". . . this discourse is much too much enlarged.")

- laments low state of poetry in England (948)
- poets are born not made, but even the fertilest ground must be manured (949)
- need matter to be expressed by words and words to express matter (949)
- praises Chaucer's Troilus, Mirror for Magistrates, Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar & Gorboduc (also notes flaws) (949)
- discusses unities of time, place & action (950)
- tragedy bound to laws of poetry, not history (950)
- necessity of knowing when to show, when to tell (950)
- necessity of knowing where to begin & end (951)
- objects to promiscuous mixture of tragedy & comedy (951)
- comedy: delight in things that have a conveniency to ourselves or nature; laughter comes of things most disproportioned to ourselves or nature(951)
- end of comical matters should not be scornful: not laughter but delightful teaching, as for all poetry (952)
- discusses quantitative and qualitative verse: English fit for both (953)
- discusses three types of rhyme (masculine, feminine, sdrucciola): English is capable of all three

VI. PERORATIO: conclusion (p. 953-4, "So, that since the ever-praiseworthy Poesy . . ." to end)

- really a mock peroration
- don't scorn the sacred mysteries of poetry
- if you have such an "earth-creeping" mind that you cannot appreciate it, then a curse upon you

In general: Note examples of sprezzatura, casualness while performing perfectly (sort of a cross between nonchalance and panache): ". . . I conjure you all that have had the evil luck to read this ink-wasting toy of mine, even in the name of the Nine Muses, no more to scorn the sacred mysteries of poetry . . . ." (Compare Hoby's definition, translated from Castiglione's The Courtier: ". . . to cover art withal, and seem whatever he doth and sayeth to do it without pain and, as it were, not minding it...You may see then how to show art and how such bent study taketh away the grace of everything.")