...definitions, which must blur the margin with interpretations, and load the memory with doubtfulness; but lie cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion,...which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney-corner; and, pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue;...

...delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for, the well-enchanting sktll of musie; and with a tale, forsooth, he cometh unto you, with...which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney-corner; and pretending no more, doth intend the winuing of the mind from wickeduess to virtue;...

...you may long to pass further. He beginneth not with obscure definitions; which must blur the margin with interpretations, and load the memory with doubtfulness; but he cometh to you with words set with delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for, the well -enchanting skill of...

...theater. This appeal is mysterious, but an obvious part of the lure of, in Sir Philip Sidney's words, "a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner" is the promise of action. But it is action of a special kind — interior action — that entices....

...poet, 'a right popular philosopher' ( 17) . The poet to Sidney is the monarch of all human sciences. 'With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale...children from play, and old men from the chimney corner' (21-2). By poetry men learn philosophy the sweetest and homeliest way, as in Northanger Abbey, one...

...Anglo-Irish satirist See Burton on ARISTOCRACY; Agar on SNOBBERY; Burke, Chesterton on TRADITION Anecdotes With a tale, forsooth, he cometh unto you; with a...children from play, and old men from the chimney corner. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) English poet, critic, soldier The history of a soldier's wound beguiles...

...points to the power of prose fiction, Sidney famously stresses the power of narrative over its hearers: 'with a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale...children from play, and old men from the chimney corner' (p. 92). Prose fiction's vivid narratives will move those to virtue who would be left indifferent by...

...you may long to pass further. He beginneth not with obscure definitions, which must blur the margent with interpretations, and load the memory with doubtfulness,...children from play, and old men from the chimney corner. The Defence of Poesie is a defence of the imaginative life, of the duty, and the delight, of the individual...

...with an ear toward music: Hee [the poet] beginneth not with obscure definitions ... but hee commeth to you with words set in delightful proportion, either accompanied with or prepared for the well enchanting skills ofMusicke* And Thomas Ravenscroft points out that certain rhythmic patterns...

...SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. Miranda, lo Prospero, in The Tempest, act 1 , sc. 2. 9 est effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the...chosen language. JANE AUSTEN (1775-181 7), English nov SIK I'HILIl' SIDNEY (1554-86), English poet, diplomat, soldier. Defence of Poesie (written 1579-80;...