Bates, Catherine (2021) ‘Knights of the same order’ : a reference in Sidney’s Defence of Poesy explained. Notes and Queries, 68 (1). pp. 65-70. doi:10.1093/notesj/gjab004 ISSN 0029-3970.

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Abstract

Toward the end of the Defence of Poesy (composed c.1579–1581, published 1595), Sidney makes a reference that has never been satisfactorily explained. Writing in the digressio—the penultimate part of the oration, in which he laments the sorry state of poetry in contemporary England—Sidney complains that bad poets are so rushing to print and flooding the market that better ones are loth to do the same lest they be accounted ‘knights of the same order’.1 The context of the passage is the social disparity between the outstanding poets of other times and places—who included ‘kings, emperors, senators, great captains’ (108.29–30)—and the ‘base men with servile wits’ (109.11) of the present moment: ‘bastard poets’ (109.17) who bring the Muses into disrepute. Robert Maslen, the editor who has the most to say about this passage, describes the sentence in question as ‘difficult’ (225) and the final phrase with which we are concerned as ‘puzzling’ (226). Jan van Dorsten is the only modern editor to connect Sidney’s ‘knights’ with a section in the Ars poetica, where Horace similarly satirises the bad poet, accusing him of writing poetry even though he doesn’t know how to simply because ‘he is free, even free-born, nay, is rated at the fortune of a knight [eques]’.2 Although other modern editors do not refer to this particular line, they all agree that Sidney had this part of the Ars in mind, for in the following sentence he includes himself among this ‘company of the paper-blurrers’ (109.25) and accuses both them and himself of ‘taking upon us to be poets in despite of Pallas’ (109.26–7): a clear reference to the sentence in which, having scorned the poetaster ‘knight’, Horace immediately goes on to contrast the better sense and judgement of his esteemed addressee: ‘But you will say nothing and do nothing against Minerva’s will [Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva]; such is your judgement, such your good sense’.3

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > Centre for the Study of the Renaissance
SWORD Depositor:	Library Publications Router
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Sidney, Philip, 1554-1586. Apologie for poetrie, Poetry -- History and criticism -- Early works to 1800, English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism, Sidney, Philip, 1554-1586 -- Criticism and interpretation
Journal or Publication Title:	Notes and Queries
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0029-3970
Official Date:	March 2021
Dates:	Date Event March 2021 Published 15 February 2021 Available 27 November 2020 Accepted
Volume:	68
Number:	1
Page Range:	pp. 65-70
DOI:	10.1093/notesj/gjab004
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights):	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Notes and Queries following peer review. The version of record Catherine Bates, ‘Knights of the Same Order’: A Reference in Sidney’s Defence of Poesy Explained, Notes and Queries, Volume 68, Issue 1, March 2021, Pages 65–70, https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjab004
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Description:	Free access
Date of first compliant deposit:	4 January 2023
Date of first compliant Open Access:	15 February 2023

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