Horace for students of literature the ars poetica and its tradition

title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject: Horace for Students of Literature : The "Ars Poetica" and Its Tradition Hardison, O B University Press of Florida 0813013542 9780813013541 9780813019697 English Horace. Ars poetica, Epistolary poetry, Latin History and criticism, Literature History and criticism-Theory, etc, Didactic poetry, Latin History and criticism, Aesthetics, Ancient Poetry, Criticism-Rome Poetry, Horace Influence, Poetics Poetry, 1995 PA6393.H67 1995eb 871/.01 Horace. Ars poetica, Epistolary poetry, Latin History and criticism, Literature History and criticism-Theory, etc, Didactic poetry, Latin History and criticism, Aesthetics, Ancient Poetry, Criticism-Rome Poetry, Horace Influence, Poetics Poetry, Page iii Horace for Students of Literature The "Ars Poetica" and Its Tradition O.B Hardison, Jr and Leon Golden University Press of Florida Gainesville / Tallahassee / Tampa / Boca Raton Pensacola / Orlando / Miami / Jacksonville Page iv Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics When the characters can be represented using the ISO 8859-1 character set (http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif), netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 8859-1 list will be represented without their diacritical marks Copyright 1995 by the Board of Regents of the State of Florida Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper All rights reserved "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" copyright 1942 by Wallace Stevens Reprinted from The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, by permission of Alfred A Knopf Inc Poetria Nova, by Geoffrey of Vinsauf, trans Margaret F Nims, pp 1593, reprinted by permission of the publisher; copyright 1967 by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto Index by Mary Frances Hardison 00 99 98 97 96 95 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Horace for students of literature: the "Ars poetica" and its tradition / [edited by] O B Hardison Jr and Leon Golden p cm Includes bibliographical references and index Contents: Ars poetica / Horace Poetria nova / Geoffrey of Vinsauf L'art poétique / Boileau An essay on criticism / Pope English bards and Scotch reviewers / Byron Notes toward a supreme fiction / Stevens ISBN 0-8130-1354-2 (alk paper) Horace Ars poetica Epistolary poetry, Latin History and criticism Literature History and criticism Theory, etc Aesthetics, Ancient Poetry Horace Influence Poetics Poetry Criticism I Hardison, O.B II Golden, Leon, 1930 PA6393.H67 1995 95-2623 871'.01dc20 Page v IN MEMORIAM O B Hardison, Jr 19281990 Page vii CONTENTS Preface ix Second Preface xi General Introduction I Ars Poetica by Horace Introduction xiii Ars Poetica Translated by Leon Golden Life and Work of Horace 23 Commentary 42 II Poetria Nova by Geoffrey of Vinsauf Introduction 91 Poetria Nova translated by Margaret F Nims Commentary 149 III L'Art Poétique by Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux Introduction and Commentary 159 L'Art Poétique translated by Sir William Soames (revised by John Dryden) IV An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope Introduction and Commentary 93 180 213 An Essay on Criticism 216 New Standards 236 Page viii V English Bards and Scotch Reviewers and Hints from Horace by Lord Byron Introduction and Commentary English Bards and Scotch Reviewers Hints from Horace The Kantian Revolution VI Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction by Wallace Stevens Introduction and Commentary Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction Notes Horace Geoffrey of Vinsauf Boileau Pope Byron Stevens Bibliography General Index Index of Foreign Terms 257 263 291 313 325 337 356 358 359 362 364 372 375 381 393 Page ix PREFACE This volume devoted to Horace's Ars Poetica and its tradition is a companion to Aristotle's "Poetics," A Translation and Commentary for Students of Literature Like that volume, it is a collaboration As in the earlier volume, the translation of the classical work, in this case the Ars Poetica, is by Leon Golden and the commentary by O B Hardison Translations of the nonclassical works are by the authors indicated for each work Our debts to previous translators and commentators will be evident to anyone who is familiar with the territory Of special value are the two most recent commentaries on Horace's Art: C O Brink's three-volume study (196382) and Niall Rudd's Epistles Book II and Epistle to the Pisones (1989) The reader will also encounter several positions that have not been developed in previous studies Among these are the analysis of the Ars Poetica as a dramatic monologue, the corollary analysis of the speaker as persona, comment on Horace's problematic attitudes to Augustan values, suggestions concerning the skeptical bent of the Art and the deeper meaning of the carpe diem motif in the Odes, the relevance of convenientia (Greek akolouthia) as a dominant theme of the work, the complex relations of the work to later imitations, and the varying facets of Horace's work revealed by these imitations In a very real sense, the later texts included in the present volume are best understood as critical comments on the Art, and this is truest for the work that is least explicitly an "imitation"Wallace Stevens's Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction We are grateful to many individuals for suggestions and encouragement Our hope is that this volume will be as useful to the students of literature for whom it is intended as our Aristotle's "Poetics" has proved to be Page xi SECOND PREFACE O B Hardison, Jr., died suddenly just after he had completed work on his commentary and notes for this book On the model of our spirited discussions of Aristotle's Poetics several years earlier, it was his intention that we would engage in similar discussions of the works included here His untimely death made that rewarding enterprise impossible It was also impossible for him to make direct use of my translation in his references to the text of the Ars Poetica in the commentary I not think the reader will experience any serious problem because of slight variations between O B.'s translations of Horatian passages and mine, and have decided that it is best not to make any alterations in O B.'s text other than technical corrections This is O B.'s book in design and execution He imaginatively conceived of its scope and provided the insightful commentary My principal task was to translate Horace's Ars Poetica and provide explanatory notes for that work Sadly, that task has been enlarged to seeing the work through to its final publication on my own I take on that responsibility as an act of pietas for a good and generous friend, for a brilliant scholar, and for an extraordinary teacher whose influence will be felt for generations to come In carrying out my responsibilities I am grateful to Professor George Kennedy for many valuable suggestions that have improved the text I also thank George and Bobby Harper, close friends of O B Hardison and of mine for many years, for their important assistance in proof-reading the original manuscript In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to Matthew Hardison for his valuable assistance in locating and copying on disk the text of his father's manuscript LEON GOLDEN Page xiii GENERAL INTRODUCTION This is an era of dynamic, vigorous activity in the field of literary theory and criticism New modes of analysis of literary form and function have stimulated intense interest in the nature and significance of artistic creation While the focal point of critical theory has moved today some distance away from the center of attention of the great classical critics, the time-tested importance and ongoing influence of those critics is still easily recognized The goal of this volume is to make available to the community of literary scholars and critics a demonstration of the strength and continuing validity of the Horatian tradition of literary criticism, which has been almost continuously present in our culture since the first century This is accomplished through the presentation of a series of texts, from the Ars Poetica itself to the twentieth-century masterpiece Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction by Wallace Stevens The poet-critics included in this volume all reflect Horace's influence, sometimes in a direct and obvious way and sometimes in an indirect and subtle manner What has lasted in Horace's poetic theory and what has been adapted from it by his successors as poet-critics across time are themes of permanent value to students of literature and criticism History clearly attests to the fact that, whatever the developments and fashions of criticism at any given time, the Horatian tradition remains continuously operative as a significant instrument of literary analysis In criticism, as in other areas of cultural experience, we benefit by exposure to the diversity of legitimate voices seeking our attention In this volume the eloquent voice of the Horatian tradition, at some times more and at other times less influential in our culture, can, in a unique and effective way, be heard clearly B.C In the Ars Poetica Horace maps out three critical directions that have been followed by later critics One of these paths relates to form and style; another to methods of evaluating success and failure in poetry; Page xiv and a third investigates the essential purpose of poetic activity and the psychology of the creative artist The impact of these investigations has been felt in different ways by the critics represented in this volume as well as by many others In the Ars Poetica we should note Horace's sharp focus on consistency, unity, and appropriateness as defining formal elements in a work of art His emphasis also is on the difficult but necessary aesthetic goal of achieving both clarity and vigor in presentation and success in choosing an appropriate subject matter Horace is both the preserver of tradition and the guarantor of the poet's right to change that tradition in terms of theme and diction Horace also emphasizes the difficulty, the dignity, and the painfulness of the poet's craft For Horace "the foundation and source of literary excellence is wisdom," and he asserts that "the works written about Socrates are able to reveal the true subject matter of poetry." He urges later poets to look to the great Greek poets as models of the highest artistic achievement, and he castigates his contemporaries who will not work hard and sacrifice greatly to reach the highest standards of performance available to poets Eloquently he denounces the corrosive power of materialism, which corrupts the soul of poetry, and states that when this rank materialism "has stained the human spirit can we really hope that poems will be written worth anointing and protecting with oil of cedar, and preserving in chests of polished cypress?" He shows in his famous line "poets wish to either benefit or delight us" that he considers poetry both illuminating and useful to the human condition The unique demands and standards of poetry, in contrast to all other human activities, are seen in his comment that the field of law has room for practitioners of varying degrees of ability, but poetry, "if it misses true excellence by only a little, verges toward deepest failure." In line with this is his advice for poets to subject their work first to the harshest criticism available and then not to publish a word they have written "until the ninth year comes around" so that they can be certain that their work will genuinely have lasting value Horace's commitment to excellence in poetry leads him to aim bitter and harsh criticism at mediocre poets who lack the energy and talent to attain the high standards he sets for poetic achievement For Horace, poetry has been an instrument for the dissemination of civilization, which requires the highest respect The discipline of poetry, he emphasizes over and over again, is of great dignity and requires both Page 390 S Salisbury, John of (ca 1170), Metalogicon, 83, 88 Satire, 284 meaning of, 26 Menippean, 26 Lucillius, 27 See also Horace Satyr, Boileau, "Canto II," 190 play, 320 Satyric drama, 14, 60, 64 Satyrs, 14, 64 Scaliger, Joseph, mentor of Heinsius, 237 Scaliger, Julius Caesar, Seven Books of Poetics, (1561), 161, 168 Schelling, Friedrich (d 1854), 252 Schiller, Friedrich, 242, 250, 316, 318, 319 "aesthetic education," 315 art humanizes, 251 Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, (Briefe über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen) (1795), 251, 315, 326, 336 On Naive and Sentimental Poetry, 79, 236 Schlegel, August and Friedrich, 236, 242, 252 Scholia: rhetoric emphasis, 84, 86, 87 Scholiasts, 238 Scipio, 198 Scott, Sir Walter, Lay of the Last Minstrel, 260, 268, 270, 276, 286, 293, 301, 293, 301 Byron critique, 261 Scylla, 11, 42, 98 Sejanus, 190 Sellin, Paul, Daniel Heinsius and Stuart England (1968), 169 Seneca, 61, 62, 149 Seven Books of Poetics See Scaliger, Julius Caesar Shadwell, Thomas (d 1692), 178, 204 Shakespeare, 59, 62, 73, 74, 170, 176, 241, 242, 278, 294, 295, 298, 299, 302, 317 Germany, 242, 250 Richard the Third, Hamlet, 295 Shapiro, Karl, Essay on Rime (1945), Sheridan, Richard, 241, 278 Shifting Paradigms: New Approaches to Horace's Ars Poetica See Frischer, Bernard Showerman, Grant, on diffusion of medieval MSS and documents about Ars Poetica, 82 Sidney, Sir Philip, Défense of Poesie, 73, 74, 171 Sidonius, 149 Silenus, 14 Simo, 14 Simons, Hi, Wallace Stevens's letter to, 325, 327, 328, 329, 426-27, 430, 433-34, 437-38, 444-45 Smithfield Stage, 203 Soames, Sir William, 176 trans Boileau (1680), xvi, 172 -Dryden translation (1682), xvi, 173, 178 Socius and company, 74, 230 Socrates, xiv, 16, 200 "Socratic pages," 71 character in The Clouds, 67 Solon, 77 Sonnet, 55 Shakespeare, 74 Sophocles, 62, 170, 193 Sosii, 18 Southey, Robert (1774-1843), 259, 260, 266, 268, 269, 284, 286, 296, 308 Spanish Poet, 192 Speaker, distinction of, 10 Spectator, 249 Spenser, Edmund, Faerie Queene (1590), 73 Redcross Knight, 74, 293 Spingarn, J., History of Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century (1957), 168 Sprat, Thomas, A History of the Royal Society (1667), 168 Stagyrite, 219, 223, 232 Statius, 149 Steele, Richard, 249 Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955) Asides on an Oboe, 329 letter to Hi Simon, 329 Musing the Obscure (1967), 327 The Necessary Angel (1951), 326 The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words, 331 Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), xiii, xvii, 5, 6, 30, 325-26 See also Blackmur, R P Stobaeus, 238 Stock, B., Myth and Science (1972), 152 Stoicism, Strindberg, Johan August (1849-1912), 241 Style, diction, 47 Styx, 198 Suidas, 238 Page 391 Sukenick, Ronald, Wallace Stevens: Musing the Obscure (1967), 327 Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745), 294, 301 Sylvester, Joshua, trans of Divine Weeks by DuBartas, 174 Sylvestris, Bernard (attributed to) Commentary on the First Six Books of Vergil's Aeneid 12th-cent., 88 T Tasso, Torquato, Gerusalem Delivered (Jerusalem Delivered) (1600), trans Edward Fairfax, 171, 174, 176, 177, 197, 268 Tatler, 249 Telephus, 10, 53 Tennyson, Alfred, Palace of Art (1832), xvii, 317, 318, 332 Terence, 65, 67, 170, 202 superior model, 167 Theban, 206 Thebes, 19 Theophrastus, 54 Thersites, 117 Thespis, 15, 66, 193 Thomists, 227 Thorild, Thomas, A Critique of the Critics (1791), 258-59 Thracian, 206 Three Books of the Art of Grammar See Diomedes Three parts of Art, Badius: poetice, poemata, poesi, 161 Thyestes: feast, 10, 51 Tibullus, 49, 187 Timaeus, Plato: God as creator, 151 Timber, or Discoveries See Jonson, Ben Timotheus, 225, 226 Tiphys, 117, 139 Tragedy (Canto III), 191 Treatises on the Art of Poetry, 92 Trojan, 196 Tropes, 154 Troy, 24, 196 Truges, 66 Tully (Cicero), 149 Turnus, 47 Tyrtaeus, 20 U Ulysses, 58, 120, 198 See also Joyce, James Unity See Brink, C O., Prolegomena V Vahlen, Johannes (1867), 239 Varius, epic poet, tragedian, 9, 23, 28, 60 Varro De lingua Latina, 47 On Poets, 61, 47 Vendler, Helen, On Extended Wings (1969), 327, 330 Vendome, Matthew, Ars Versificatoria, 12th-cent treatise on Ars Poetica, 92 Venusia, town of, 23 Vergil, 3, 9, 23, 28, 31, 48-49, 79, 149, 187, 200, 208, 297 Aeneid, 24, 47, 57, 58 Eclogues, 46 Georgics, 46 Pope describes, 167 Verisimilitude, 166, 170 Verlaine, Paul, Art poétique (1874), xvii, 319-321 Victorinus, Horation rules of poetry, 86, 87 Vida, Girolamo, De arte poetica, 159, 160, 174, 214, 234, 237 Vienna Glosses, influence, 150 Vienna Scholia on Horace's Art of Poetry, ed Joseph Zechmeister (1877), 86, 87 Villon, Franỗois (d ca 1490), 17 Virgil See Vergil Vision of Judgment, The See Byron, Lord Volpone (The Fox) See Ben Jonson Voltaire, 241 von Schlegel, August (d 1845), trans Shakespeare's plays into German, 252 von Schlegel, Friedrich, 252 W Waller, Edmund (d 1687), 175, 180, 208, 225 Walsh, William, early mentor of Pope, 214, 235 Webbe, William, Discourse of English Poetrie (1586), 164 Weinberg, Bernard, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance (Badius), 161, 164, 165 Wesley, Samuel, Epistle to a Friend, 172 Whitman, Walt, Leaves of Grass (1855), 314 Page 392 Wieland, C M., 242 Wincklemann, Johann, Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks: With an Essay on Grace in Works of Art (Eng trans 1787), 315 Words coining, 8-9 use, Wordsworth, William (1770-1850), 79, 80, 261, 262, 269, 286, 303 attacked by Byron, 260, 261 critical reviews of, 80 "Preface," with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, 250, 252, 260 "spots of time," 332 Z Zechmeister, Joseph See Vienna Scholia Page 393 INDEX OF FOREIGN TERMS A Ab ovo, 41 (147-48), 58 Absona, 54 Accessus ad auctores, 161 Acheron, 199 Adolescentes optimi, 160 Adulescenti, 237 Ad unguem, 36 Aisthanomai, 314 Akolouthia, ix, 35 Altisonus, 162 Archetypum, 152 Ars, 26, 34, 67, 69, 151, 169, 240 Ars celare artem, 27 Ars metrica, 36-37, 47-48, 50, 52, 87, 161, 165 Artifex, 34, 67, 68, 151, 152, 240 B Ballade, 175 Belles Lettres, 172 Boutefeus, 208 C Carmen saeculare, 24, 25 Carpe diem, ix, 30, 31 Commoratio, 126 Communia, 56 Concetti, 165 Concettismo, 165, 166, 167, 172 Convenientia, ix, 35, 36, 51, 71 Copia rerum ac verborum, 37 Cum non sit ratio rationis de ratione, hinc non est ratio praebere fidem rationi, 143 Cum quattuor commentariis, 160 Cura peculi, 72 D Decens, 51 Decorum, 34, 51 Descriptio, 125 Diminutio, 125 Ding an sich, 252, 313, 315, 316, 330 Disjunctio, 126 Dispositio, 34, 37 Doctrina, 34, 69 Dura creavit pestiferam fortuna famem, 121 E Ea de causa, 121 Ecce deae aethereae advenere, 143 Einbildungskraft, 313 Ekphrasis, 44 Elocutio, 34, 36, 37 Enfin Malherbe vint, 173 Enthousiasmos, 171 Ephebe, 330, 331, 333, 336, 337 Episteme, 34 Epistula, 26 Epistulae, 27 Europhrosyme, 300 Exercitatio, 34, 69, 155 F Fabulae praetextae, 67 Fabulae togatae, 67 Figurae sententiae, 154 Figurae verborum, 154 Frequentatio, 126 G Gens Julia, 24 Gnosis, 74 Gongorism, 166 H Harmonia, 35 Harmottonta, 54 Honori, 145 Humilis, 162 I Imitatio, 69 Page 394 Infantes, 143 Ingenium, 34, 69, 71, 78, 165, 166, 196, 247 In medias res, 41 (147-48), 58, 177 Interpres, 77 Inventio, 37 J Je ne sais quoi, 173, 214 K Katholou, 57 L Lacrimantes, 143 Latinitas, 37, 47, 320 Lavinian, 199 Letalis egenam gente fames spoliavit humum, 121 Licentia, 48 Luci misimus Aeli, 144 Lychnus, 87 M Mediocribus, 162, 257 Melete, 34 N Natura, 34 Nomino, 118 O Ode, 64, 66 Officium, 37, 70, 74 Oneri, 145 Ordo, 34, 47 P Pallium, 66 Particulae, 160 Pathos, 53 Permuto, 118 Perspicuitas, 163 Phantasia, 43 Physis, 34 Poema, 39, 55, 56 Poemata, 161, 162 Poesi, 161, 162 Poesia, 240 Poesis, 39, 55 Poeta, 68, 240 Poetes, 39 Poetice, 161, 162 Poetria, 88 Praktikon, 50 Praxis, 50, 74 Préciosité, 166, 167, 174, 175, 177 Prends l'éloquence et tords-lui son cou, 320 Prepon, 34 Prisci poetae, 76 Prononino, 118 Q Quid deceat, 71 R Rebus in illis, 121 Rege sub ipso, 121 Res, 37, 39, 151, 168 S Sapere aude, 238 Satura, 26 Schemata dianoias, 154 Schemata lexeos, 154 Scholia, 84, 86, 87 Scribendi recte sapere est principium fons, 164 Senarius, 65 Sermo, 27, 243 Sermones, 27 Sesquipedalia, 51, 52 Significatio, 134 Speciosa miracula, 58 Spiel, 251 Sublimis, 162 Synecheia, 35 Syrma, 66 T Technai, 326 Techne, 26, 169, 174, 326 Tempus ad illud, 121 Terza rima, 327 Toga praetexta, 67 Topos, 76 Tragos, 64 Transfero, 118 Transsumptio, 118 Truges, 66 Tu, Tite, tute, te virtute, tuente tueris, 143 U Usus, 48 Ut pictura poesis, 214, 243 ... However, the popularity of The Art of Poetry during the Enlightenment rested on the idea that it stands for the norms of reason and nature and offers certainties in the form of "rules" rather than... elements of both Literary theory supplies much of its content, but the character of the speaker determines the tone of the comments, the order in which they are made, and the lapses and omissions and. .. terms of theme and diction Horace also emphasizes the difficulty, the dignity, and the painfulness of the poet's craft For Horace "the foundation and source of literary excellence is wisdom," and