THE REVIVAL OF CLASSICAL ENGLISH LITERARY CRITICISM:A STUDY OF SIDNEY,DRYDEN,AND JOHNSON

Abstract

This research investigates the transformation of English literary criticism through the works and ideals of Sir Philip Sidney, John Dryden, and Samuel Johnson. It aims to revisit the concepts of Plato, Aristotle, and Longinus with a neoclassical lens rooted in a different political, social, cultural and societal era. This research is qualitative in its nature. The primary texts used for the research are Sidney’s An Apology for Poetry, Dryden’s An Essay of Dramatic Poesy, and Johnson’s Preface to Shakespeare and Lives of the Poets. However, various scholarly articles and analyses are used as a secondary text to supplement the aim of this research. The objective of this research can be divided into three parts. The first one deals with the analysis of Sidney’s, Dryden’s and Johnson’s ideals of poet, poetry, mimesis and imagination. The second one draws on to the comparative analysis of Classical and Neoclassical English literary criticism. While, the third one focuses on creating a literary space for analyzing how all these critics together helped in shaping the English literary criticism of the modern times. This research highlights that instead of being a slavish conformist to the ideals presented by the Classics, the neoclassical critics dared to challenge their notion and presented their own works while keeping the roots of English literary criticism intact, thus, revealing the enduring and fluid nature of the subject.