Ars Poetica by Horace

An Essay on Ars Poetica

Around the first century BC the center of literary and cultural activity shifted from Alexandria to Rome. With the Augustan era, there dawned a golden age of poetry amd literary criticism. This age was made brilliant by the achievements of Virgil, Ovid, Tribulles and Horace.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65BC-8BC) also known as Horace was the leading Roman poet during the time of Augustus. At the age of twenty he went to Athens for study but he joined the army of Brutus. Virgil and Varius, who were attracted to his poetry, introduced him to Maecenas. This meeting proved a turning point in the career of Horace. He devoted himself to Muse thereafter to the writing of  poetry. After Virgil's death, he was virtually a Poet Laureate. He died peacefully as a bachelor on 27th November, 8BC.

Horace was a poet of repute. His literary opus include: Satires, Epodes, Odes, Carmen Saeculare, Epistles and Ars Poetica or Epistle to the Pisos. The most frequent themes of his odes and epistles are love, friendship, philosophy, and the art of poetry.

Epistle to the Pisos (19BC)  is an important critical document in verse. Quintilian called it Ars Poetica. It is an adaptation of Lucretius's Hellenistic Critic. It was first translated by Thomas Drant in 1556. Ars Poetica exercised a great influence on European literature notably French drama. Abercrombie says:

"Perhaps no poem of comparable length had provided so many phrases that have become of international culture".

Horace was the outstanding critic of his age. In Ars Poetica, he advises poets on the art of writing poetry and drama. He states "the aim of poetry is to instruct, or to delight or both".

The Ars Poetica has no clear design or theory of poetry amd drama. Horace mixed numerous literary maxims in a manner which confuses an ordinary reader. Joseph Scaliger called it:

"An art of poetry written without art".

Apparently, Ars Poetica seems formless and unsystematic, but a closer examination reveals a definite and well marked scheme of treatment.

The subject of  Ars Poetica is divided into three parts:

Poesis ( subject matter)

Poema (form)

Poeta (the poet).

Atkins says, "Horace opens his first section (poesis) with some significant introductory remarks on the meed for observing organic unity amd propriety: after which he touched briefly on the choice of subject matter".

Ars Poetica opens with the assertion that a poem must have unity. He gives the example of an absurd painting. Imagine that a painter makes a painting in which a horse's neck has been combined to human head and added various features to limbs, this painting would be ludicrous. The poet is free to indulge his fancy, but he must not creat monsters or impossible figures.

The poet must not lapse into absurdity. There exist a harmonious relation between the parts amd the whole. According to Horace:

"Most of the poets are deceived by appearance of correctness".

They try to be concise, but become obscure; their aim is smoothness but their spirits fail. Horace says that writes must choose material equal to their capacities. He stresses the importance of choosing proper words. A poet is at liberty to coin new words and revive the old ones, but this should be done with much discretion, only when necessary.

According to Horace Greek models should be followed. He popularized the ancient Greek traditions in Rome. The example of Greeks must be studied day and night. He advises new poets, "let the Greek models never out of your hands".

Horace says that it is not enough for a poetry to be beautiful. It must be pleasing and lead to the listener's mind whenever he will. The human faces smile on those who smile and sympathises with those that weep.

Poema

Horace says, the plot should be based on familiar stories. Entirely new themes may also be invented, but for their successful treatment, the poet requires great skill and art. In characterization, the poet must be true to type. Characters must be consistent. The qualities of various characters must fit their respective ages. He says:

" Characters should have qualities and behaviour characteristic of the stage of life to which they belong. For instance, the child should be fond of play, swift to argue amd swift to be appeased. The youth should be a lover of sports, and impressionable".

The dramatic style must be in accordance with character, mood and circumstance. Different tones must be associated with different moods and personalities. The dramatist must know:

"What to represent on the stage and what to report to the audience".

A play shouldn't have more or less than five acts. There must not be more than three characters. The fourth character should never be introduced. The God should not intervene in the action, unless it is absolutely essential. The chorus should form an intergal part of the play. Its songs should forward the action of the  play and it "must back the good, and give sage counsel".

Poeta

The art of poetry requires labour, long and persistent; polished workmenship is the outcome of incessant toil. Horace has mot faith in inspiration. The poet should learn his craft painstakingly. He should revise and modify what he writes. He should get it examined by a competent critic. His advise is "put the parchment in your desk and store it up for nine years".

A poet must also be a keen observer of man and manners. He should constantly study the book of life and then draw the "language true to life". The poet must not be in a hurry to publish his work. "He should let it stand for over a decade".

Though, Horace insists on careful workmenship, he does not insist on perfection, for even, " Good Homer, nods". So, minor blemishes are excusable.

The idea of poetic madness or inspiration is absurd. A poet who relies on metre, inspiration is generally laughed at. The treatise ends with a satiric portrait of such a, "mad" poet.

Post written by Vikram Beniwal