“them that build Castles in the aire”

For my English 291 class (Early British Literary History), we had to read Sir Philip Sidney’s “The Defence of Poesie” – basically, an early essay defending why poetry (and creative writing) is essential to humanity. The line “them that build Castles in the air” caught my eye.

For Sir Sidney, poets build castles in the air. I’d like to expand that. All of us who are creative (we could be considered poets) build castles in the air. Whenever I think of castles in the air, I always think about not limiting ourselves. A castle is something that is solid in the ground, firm. It has a foundation and is meant to be defensible. However, take it away from that, place it in the air, and it becomes the thing of fantasy.

We are them that build Castles in the air. Anyone with imagination can be, and everyone has imagination. I love this line because it shows there is no limit to humanity’s ideas and imagination. We may be limited by some stuff, but, inside our mind, there are only the limitations we place.

Go build your castles in the air, and I will, too.