Ars Poetica is a term meaning "The Art of Poetry" or "On the Nature of Poetry". Early examples of Ars Poetica by Aristotle and Horace have survived and have since spawned many other poems that bear the same name. Three of the most notable examples, including the work by Horace, are as follows.

Horace (c. 18 BC)

Ars Poetica (also known as "The Art of Poetry", Epistula Ad Pisones, or Letters to Piso) was a treatise on poetics. It was first translated into English by Ben Jonson, Three quotes in particular are associated with the work: Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... The Piso family of ancient Rome was a prominent plebeian branch of the gens Calpurnia, with at least 50 prominent Romans known. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For other persons of the same name, see Ben Johnson (disambiguation). ...

• "in medias res", or "into the middle of things"; this describes a popular narrative technique that appears frequently in ancient epics and remains popular to this day

• "bonus dormitat Homerus" or "even Homer nods"; an indication that even the most skilled poet can make continuity errors

• "ut pictura poesis", or "As is painting so is poetry", by which Horace meant that poetry (in its widest sense, "imaginative texts") merited the same careful interpretation that was, in Horace's day, reserved for painting.

The latter two quotes occur back-to-back, near the end of the treatise. In media(s) res (Latin for into the middle of things) is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo or ab initio). ... Homeric nod (sometimes heard as Even Homer nods) is a proverbial phrase for a continuity error. ... Ut pictura poesis is Latin, literally As is painting so is poetry. ...

See also longest word in English for sesquipedalian. The longest word in English depends upon the definition of what constitutes an English word. ...

External links

• Latin text of poem at The Latin Library

• English translation

• Text at Perseus.

• Famous quotes

The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. ...

Archibald MacLeish (1925)

The best known poem by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) took its title and subject from Horace's work. His poem "Ars Poetica" contains the line "A poem should not mean/but be", which was a classic statement of the modernist aesthetic. The original manuscript of the poem resides in the Library of Congress. Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet, writer and the Librarian of Congress. ... Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...

Ars Poetica

A poem should be palpable and mute

As a globed fruit,

Dumb

As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone

Of casement ledges where the moss has grown--

A poem should be wordless

As the flight of birds.

A poem should be motionless in time

As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves.

Memory by memory the mind--

A poem should be motionless in time

As the moon climbs.

A poem should be equal to:

Not true.

For all the history of grief

An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea--

A poem should not mean

But be.

External links

• Poem

• Image of original manuscript

• Analysis of poem

Czesław Miłosz (1961)

Nobel Prize winner Miłosz also wrote a poem with this title, though his poem has a question mark at the end of the title. CzesÅ‚aw MiÅ‚osz  ; (June 30, 1911 – August 14, 2004), was a Polish poet, writer, academic, and translator. ... The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: ) are awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine. ...

External links

• Poem

Modern Usage

The term "ars poetica" can refer to devices of metalanguage. The definition of "ars poetica" in the past decade extends to defining techniques of rhetoric, including but not limited to: writing about writing, singing about singing, thinking about thinking, etc. Stemming first from poetry on poetry, "ars poetica" is now widely used as a literary device to enhance imagery, understanding, or profundity. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about other languages (object languages). ... Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ...

Moreover, the technique of "ars poetica" was previously an attempt to capture the essence of poetry through poetry; the poet would write his poem, then step back, and his poem would become a way of knowing, of seeing, albeit through the senses, the emotions, and the imagination. In the modern century, a passage of writing or composition employing an "ars poetica" style is one that tries to capture the essence, the intrinsic value, of what it is expressing through. A song about a song, for example, would be an attempt to manifest the fleeting beauty of lyrics, notes, and musical crescendo/decrescendo. // For beauty as a characteristic of a persons appearance, see Physical attractiveness. ...