ABSTRACT

https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315018577/389c1d69-bf6d-4f43-8610-58d40a6d0a1a/content/Inline_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> In order to understand the place of history in the English Renaissance we must turn to the attacks made upon poetry 1 and especially secular poetry, first by the adherents of the Reformation and later by the Puritans, for the attackers of poetry were the defenders of history. And it must be remembered that poetry was a more inclusive term then than now, covering drama and much of that which we call creative literature. 2 These attacks upon poetry are not today so well known as are the defenses of poetry and particularly the great defense offered by Sidney. Nevertheless, the defenses of poetry cannot be fully comprehended unless we remind ourselves that defense is always organized to resist attack.