LITERARY

CRITICISM
Introduction
What does criticism mean?
the act or art of analyzing evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or
artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production,To
criticize does not necessarily imply "to find fault", but the word is often taken
to mean the simple expression of an object against prejudice, no matter
positive or negative. Often criticism involves active disagreement, but it
may only mean "taking sides". Constructive criticism will often involve an
exploration of the different sides of an issue.the psychology of criticism
studies the cognitive and emotional effects of criticism, the behavioral
characteristics of criticism, and its influence on how people are
reacting.There are many kinds of criticism :1/theoretical criticisma critical
approach or doctrine that examines a literary work in the light of certain
theories of literature or uses the text as a support for the development of
literary theoryTheoretical criticism is concerned with the meaning of ideas,
including ideas on which a practice is based. It is concerned with the
coherence or meaningfulness of a theory, its correspondence to reality, the
validity of its purpose, and the limitations of the viewpoint it offers. Theories
can be criticizedTheoretical criticism often occurs in the context of
eclecticism and intellectual opportunism.
when people more or less creatively "cobble together" in one interpretation a
bunch of ideas and models that draw from a variety of sources. 2/Practical
criticism is an objection or appraisal of the type, that something "does or does
not work" in practical reality, due to some reason or cause. The focus is on
useful effect. Often people say, "That might be fine in theory, but in practice it
does not work." Inversely, they might show with experiment that something
works well in practice, even although the theory says this is not possible – so
that the theory ought to be adjusted.Practical criticisms are effective, if people
are concerned with practicalities. If, however, people are purely concerned
with what things mean, or ought to mean, they may not care about whether
their way of seeing things is "practical" or not. People might hold on to their
beliefs or defend them, even if they are not very practical at all, because they
feel those beliefs are essential to who they are.

Mada Al Sahli
 Sir Philip Sidney

The paucity of literary criticism and theory during the Middle

Ages is more than made up for by the abundance of critical
activity during the Renaissance. One critic of this period far
excels all others, that critic was Sir Philip Sidney. He was
the representative scholar, writer, and gentleman of
Renaissance England, Sidney is usually considered the
first great English critic-poet.
Sir Philip Sidney:
He was born on November 30, 1554, Penshurst, Kent, England—died on
October 17, 1586, Arnhem, Netherlands, Elizabethan courtier, statesman, soldier,
poet, and patron of scholars and poets, considered the ideal gentleman of his
day. After Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella is considered
the finest Elizabethan sonnet cycle. His work The Defence of Poesy introduced
the critical ideas of Renaissance theorists to England.
Sidney wrote Defence of Poesy before 1583. It has taken its place among the
great critical essays in English.It is generally believed that he was at least partly
motivated by Stephen Gosson, a former playwright who dedicated his attack on
the English stage, The School of Abuse, to Sidney in 1579, but Sidney primarily
addresses more general objections to poetry, such as those of Plato. In his
essay, Sidney integrates a number of classical and Italian precepts on fiction.
The essence of his defence is that poetry, by combining the liveliness of history
with the ethical focus of philosophy, is more effective than either history or
philosophy in rousing its readers to virtue.
Like Aristotle, Sidney values poetry over history, law, and philosophy; but he takes
Aristotle's idea one step further by declaring that poetry, above all the other arts and
sciences, embodies truth. Unlike his classical forefathers, Sidney best personifies the
Renaissance period when he dictates his literary precepts. After ranking the different
literary genres and declaring all to be instructive, he decrees poetry to excel all. Other
genres he mocks (tragicomedy, for example) and adds more dictates to Aristotelian
tragedy by insisting on unity of action, time, and place.
Throughout An Apology for Poetry, Sidney stalwartly defends poetry against those who
would view it as a mindless or even immoral activity. At the essay's end, a passionate and
somewhat platonically inspired poet places a curse on all those who do not love poetry.
Echoes of such emotionality reverberate throughout the centuries in English literature,
especially in British romantic writings.

Alanoud Al Otaibi
 John Dryden

John Dryden1631–1700John Dryden was an English poet, literary

critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first
Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of
Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be
known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. He studied as a
King's Scholar at the prestigious Westminster School of London,
Dryden was trained in the art of rhetorical argument, which
remained a strong influence on the poet's writing and critical
thought throughout his life.
 John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”
Samuel Johnson called him this name,and affirmed of his Essay of Dramatic
Poesy (1668) that “modern English prose begins here. ” Dryden's critical work
was extensive, treating of various genres such as epic, tragedy, comedy and
dramatic theory, satire, the relative virtues of ancient and modern.
The Platonic and Aristotelian debate con- cerning art's being an imitation
of nature begins the discussion. Nature, argues one debater, must be
imitated directly. while another declares that writers should imitate the
classical authors such as Homer, for such an- cient writers were, after all, the
best imitators of nature. Through the voice of Neander, Dryden presents the
merits of both positions.
Dryden was both a writer and a critic and he had rather a dogmatic bent.
Most of his critical interpretations are found in the prefaces to his own works.
In Dryden we find an interest in the general issues of criticism rather than in a
close reading of particular texts. We call Dryden a neoclassical critic, just as
Boileau. Dryden puts emphasis on the neoclassical rules. His best-known
critical work, An Essay on Dramatic Poesy, partly reflects this tension in
Dryden's commitments. Its dialogue form has often been criticized as
inconclusive, but actually, as in most dialogues, there is a spokesman
weightier than the others.
 Dryden carried out his critical thoughts effectively, stating his own ideas but
leaving some room for difference of opinion. Neander's overall statement on
the literary standards is that, the norms can be added to make the work ideal,
but the norms will not improve a work which does not contain some degree of
perfection.
As Dryden believes, we may find writers like Shakespeare who did not follow the rules
but are nevertheless obviously superior to any "regular" writer. Shakespeare disconcerts
Dryden; he recognises his superiority but within himself he would feel closer affiliations
with Ben Jonson. In Dryden, then, we find a "liberal" neo-classicist, although he is most
coherent (a trait of classicism) when he is dealing with that which can be understood and
reduced to rule. Dryden mentions the appropriate rules laid down by Aristotle. But it is not
the observance of rules that makes a work great but its capacity to delight and transport. It
is not the business of criticism to detect petty faults but to discover those great beauties
that make it immortal.
According to Dryden, a critic has to understand that a writer writes to his own age and
people of which he himself is a product. He advocates a close study of the ancient models
not to imitate them blindly as a thorough going neo-classicist would do but to recapture
their magic to treat them as a torch to enlighten the passage.
Mobereka Al Qahtani
SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JOHN
DRYDEN AND SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AS A CRITIC
WITH RESPECT TO
THEIR ESSAYS
SIMILARITY SIDNEY’S VIEW ON POETRY
John Dryden and Philip Sidney are united in recognising poet’s significance.
Sidney sees poets as a mediator between historians and philosophers. He
says that poetry is the first light giver to ignorance. He also says that poetry is
the old and more superior form than other branches of knowledge. For
instance Vedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana, The Bible, The Quran are in
poetry. He says the first philosophers and historians became popular in the
manner in which they used poetry. For example,
Psalms by David and Dialogues by Plato are in the form of poetry. In his work
‘Apology for poetry’ he says, “And truly, even Plato, whosoever well
considereth shall find that in the body of his work, though the inside and
strength were Philosophy, the skin as it were and beauty
DRYDEN’S VIEW ON POETRY
Dryden also celeb rates poetry’s delightful instructions; he also celebrates the
humanity found in imperfection. According to Plato, the function of poetry is
‘to instruct’.
Example in Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” the Trojan hector
transforms into a tragic hero.Following are the Dryden’s words
Similar to Sidney, Dryden also says, a bare imitation of nature cannot be a
great poetry. Poetry should imitate only a part of nature, only then it will be
beautiful and delighting. The poet is not an imitator or even a teacher, he is
a creator. He creates a new thing out of life and nature.Dryden says, the
fancy should not run wild. To control this fancy the poet must have
restraining power of good sense judgement and discretion. Only then, a
poet can present the image of life and nature more perfect than the real life
of man, breaking of all its deformities or faults. According to him, poet is the
creator of the ideal but not the real.
DIFFERENCE SIDNEY’S VIEW ON 3 DRAMATIC UNITIES
UNITY OF TIME: he says that the action of the play should not exceed the
natural day of 24 hours. If it exceeds the time limit, the play would appear to
be unnatural. He says nothing could be more absurd than this.
UNITY OF PLACE: he says that the action of play should not shift frequently from
one distant place to another. Also the same stage has to be taken as garden,
graveyard, island to show the shipwreck and as a battlefield. But this should not
strain the mind of the audience. It should not lead to confusion and this should
be equally avoided.
UNITY OF ACTION: he says that there should be no mixture of comic and tragic
scenes. Comedy should be comedy and tragedy should be tragedy from the
beginning to the end. They should not be mixed up. King and clown should not
be mixed up in the stage.
DRYDEN’S VIEW ON TRAGICOMEDY .Dryden defends tragicomedy through the
following points. Just as eye can pass from unpleasant thing to a
pleasant thing, soul can also move from tragic to comic. It can do much more
swiftly..Mirth does not destroy compassion, that is, a serious effect of tragedy is
not disturbed by mingling of tragedy and comedy.

Ghaida Al Sahli
 Conclusion

At the conclusion of this presentation , we have known a

great deal about literary criticism and that it means is art
of analyzing evaluating or judging the quality of a literary
or artistic work ,And we got acquainted with the life and
works of two of the most famous literary critics Sidney and
Dryden . The most important thing about Sidney is first
great English critic-poet.His work An Apology for Poetry
(sometimes called Defence of Poesy) is the"epitome of
the literary criticism of the Italian Renaissance" and the
firstinfluential piece of literary criticism in English history.
While John Drvden more than any other English writer
embodies the spirit and ideals of neoclassicism '' The
most prolific writer of the Restoration ‘’.
 We also compared them later and recognized the
differences and similarities between them . We knew
that John Dryden and Philip Sidney are united in
recognising poet’s significance , and Sidney is a
strong advocate of 3 dramatic unities of time, place
and action , however Dryden defends tragicomedy .
literary criticism is to enrich the reader's understanding
of the literary work , finally, when you read Sidney and
Dryden works you will understand what is that mean .

Mayada Al Khalidi
We hope you enjoyed our presentation,
thanks for your reading
 References:

Sir Philip Sidney:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sidney
 Charles E. Bressler, an introduction to theory and practice.
John Dryden:
 Literary Criticism" the book"
 https://sites.google.com/site/nmeictproject/reflections/2-1-1-dryden-as-a-critic
 http://littcritic.blogspot.com/2014/01/john-dryden.html?m=1
Comparison
 https://www.scribd.com/document/403697104/COMPARISION-OF-JOHN-
DRYDEN-AND-SIR-PHILIP-SIDNEY-AS-A-CRITIC-WITH-RESPECT-TO-THEIR-ESSAYS-docx-
by-lavanya-docx
 ‫‪ ‬مدى عبدهللا السهلي‬
‫‪ ‬العنود خمييس العتيبي‬
‫‪ ‬مبيريكه حندود القحطاني‬
‫‪ ‬غيداء عبدالرحمن السهلي‬
‫‪ ‬مياده سعد الخالدي‬