Horace

Ars Poetica
Arte Poética
Que el verso sea como una llave
Que abra mil puertas.
Inventa mundos nuevos y cuida tu palabra;
El adjetivo, cuando no da vida, mata.
[…]
Por qué cantáis la rosa, ¡oh Poetas!
Hacedla florecer en el poema ;

Sólo para nosotros

Viven todas las cosas bajo el Sol.
El Poeta es un pequeño Dios.
Vicente Huidobro (1916)
Ars Poetica
• My work: to write poems that
make my people feel safe, seen
or otherwise loved. My work: to
make my enemies feel afraid,
angry, or otherwise ignored… My
work: survival.
• José Olivarez (2019)
Horace
• Son of a slave who became Rome’s leading poet.
• He was educated in Athens: He was an admirer of
Greek art and culture, especially the tragedies
written by Sophocles.
• He studied Aristotle and Plato in the Academy.
• Deeply concerned with attaining fame.
Ars Poetica
 Poem written as a letter to Lucius Calpurnius Piso (Roman senator and consul) and his
two sons, advising them how to write good poems.
 Conversational Tone and Unsystematic Advice.
 Prescriptive Guideline for poets since the Renaissance. It aims to be a practical
invitation for other poets and those who appreciate poetry. It includes 476 lines
containing nearly 30 maxims for young poets.
 Problem: How to write a poem that audiences will like?
 Thesis: Poets should study their audiences, traditional conventions and practice
moderation.
Ars Poetica: Mastery and Decorum
• Objective: Horace is advising other poets on how to write poems that are well
received by their audiences.
• Art as Craft and Mastery vs Genius and Innate Talent: Regardless of his innate
genius, the poet must learn his art, especially the conventions that guide his
audience in their expectations.
• Unconscious bias against madness AND object of laughter (84). Recurrent
metaphor in the letter.
Ars Poetica: Mastery and Decorum
• Advices poets to polish their craft before publishing.
• Concerned with public image: “once a word is let go, it can’t be called back” (92).
• They should ask advice from professional critics, not friends or family members: “He’ll
shout out “Fine! Oh, excellent! How superb! […] Just as hired mourners often behave
much better at funerals than those sincerely bereaved” (93).
Ars Poetica: Mastery and Decorum
• They should study life and society: how to become a good citizen, parent, brother.
• Poet as Public Servant that establishes boundaries and preserves common sense in
society: “To forbid impromptu liaisons and make rules for marriage, to build towns and
carve out the laws on pillars of wood” (92).
• Laws that dictate what is appropriate or not in a poem constitute the foundations of
neoclassical art.
• Do you agree with his views on the public role of the poet? Who would be the antithesis
of this poet?
Ars Poetica: Mastery and Decorum
Ars Poetica:
The Audience
• Focus on Reception and Fame: His
points on the purpose of poetry are
guided by his focus on fame and
audience reception. Poems that are
instructive and delightful reach a
wider audience: young and old:
“This book will bring in money for
Sosius and Son, Booksellers, travel
across the sea, and extend its
author’s fame a long distance into
the future” (91).
Ars Poetica: The Audience
 More than Mimesis Horace is focused on Audience Response: How to make a poem
that everyone will enjoy?
 He tries to appeal to people from all ages and classes.
 Study of the Audience Response – Observation of Life and the Literary Market Place:
Poetic language should be novel, but not too novel – and the only way of judging the
mean here is by closely observing the audience and the literary marketplace.
Ars Poetica: The Audience
 Different audiences have different tastes: the young want to be delighted the old want
to be enlightened. The wealthy want noble subjects and the “rough country types” want
to be entertained.
 Implicit fear of being rejected by critics and audiences drives his need for fame and
success.
 E.g., This informs his views on mad poets, that is, his fear of being laughed at and
being rejected by society.
Ars Poetica: Unity
• Mimesis and Common Sense vs Fantasy and Madness: A poem should promote
common sense, not evoke the “dreams of a sick man” (84).
• Moderation with Fictions: Although the poet is free to utilize and indulge his cravings
(fancy), he must not lapse into absurdity wherein he creates monsters and impossible
figures.
Ars Poetica: Unity
• Organic Unity: Completeness in the Aristotelian sense of each element of the poem
being connected to the other and following a single purpose.
• No Additional Material: No element can be removed without altering the totality of the
poem and all parts should be subordinated to this unity: “Make what you want, so long
as it’s one and the same, complete and entire” (84).
Ars Poetica: Unity
• Subject Selection – Structure, Language and Tone : Each subject dictates its own unity
of composition: language, tone and style. The elements that are most appropriate to its
purpose.
• Unity involves Mastery of Conventions: “The man who chooses a subject he can really
manage won’t be at a loss for the words or the logical order they go in. As for order
itself, its power and charm consist, if I’m not mistaken, in saying just then what ought to
be said at that point, putting some things off, leaving others out” (85).
Ars Poetica: Unity
Ars Poetica: Unity
• Unity of Plot and Character: Traditional characters should maintain a consistency in their
representation: “You should either stick to tradition or invent a consistent plot […] If it’s
something as yet untried you put on stage and you dare construct a new character, you
must keep to the end the same sort of person you started out with, and make your
portrayal consistent” (86).
• E.g., Superheroes in Marvel Comics or Films.
Ars Poetica: Unity
• Unity of Subject vs Subject Variation: Preference over simple subjects and plots over
variation or subplots: “The poet who strives to vary his single subject in wonderful ways
paints dolphins in the woods and foaming boars on the waves” (84).
• Monstruous Painting without Unity – Poets shouldn’t deviate from “healthy” common
sense: Unity is related to preserving a healthy mind and common sense.
• Unity – Language and Style: Tragedy involves the use of an elevated language vs Comedy
involves the use of average language.
Ars Poetica: Moderation
• Principle of Moderation – Common Sense: “But painters and poets have always been
equally free to try anything.” We writers know that, and insist that such license be ours,
And in turn extend it to others – but not to the extent of mating the mild with the wild”
(84).
• Principle: Poets should practice moderation in their use of new words, fictions, and
embellishments.
Ars Poetica: Moderation
• Moderation – Critique of Purple of Prose: Term coined by him to denounce the use of
flowery language in poetry, that is, unnecessary embellishments in diction that obscure
meaning and disrupt narrative flow.
• The mahogany-haired adolescent girl glanced fleetingly at her rugged paramour, a
crystalline sparkle in her eyes as she gazed, enraptured, upon his countenance. It was
filled with an expression as enigmatic as receding shadows in the night
Ars Poetica: Enlighten
and Delight

• The Purpose of Poetry – Delight or

Enlighten or Both: “Poets would either
delight or enlighten the reader, or say
what is both amusing and really worth
using” (91).
• Combines Plato and Aristotle’s Views
of Poetry.
Ars Poetica:
Enlighten and
Delight
• Wisdom and mimesis: The
source of all good poetry is
wisdom. A good poem should
teach someone how to become
a better citizen, parent, brother.
Linked to Old Age.
• A poet should have a knowledge
of different professions to
imitate them accordingly.
Ars Poetica: Enlighten
and Delight
 Pleasure: Evoke powerful emotions. Fictions that
border on truth generate pleasure: balance between
reason and imagination.
 Pleasure and Youth: This dimension of poetry is linked
to the youth.