What is Sidney s assessment of English poetry of his time Sir Philip Sidney - wrote An Apology for Poetry to defend poetry Many people in his time thought poetry was useless or harmful Sidney wanted to prove that poetry was valuable and noble He believed poetry could teach people good values He also talked about the condition of English poetry during his time Breaking Old Rules Sidney said many English poets did not follow the classical rules In their plays they mixed serious kings with foolish clowns This made the stories confusing and less serious Some poets also showed many years and many places in one short play These problems made English poetry look weak Wrong Use Of Language Sidney noticed that some English poets used big and hard words But these words had no deep meaning The poets tried to look wise but failed to touch people s