Ars poetriae
The Latin term ars poetriae ("art of poetry", plural artes poetriae) refers both to the medieval theory of poetic composition[1] and to a genre of technical treatise on the same.[2] A core set of four texts known as artes poetriae was first published by Edmond Faral in 1924. Two more were later added.[3] All six of them were written in Latin between about 1175 and 1280 by five different authors all connected to the University of Paris.[4][5] All six texts have received critical editions and English translations.[6]
The six artes are:
- Matthew of Vendôme, Ars versificatoria ("Art of versifying"), c. 1175[4]
- Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria nova ('New poetry'), c. 1210[4]
- Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Documentum de modo et arte dictandi et versificandi ("Instruction in the method and art of prose and verse writing"), c. 1210[4]
- Gervase of Melkley, Ars poetica ('Poetic art'), c. 1215[4]
- John of Garland, Parisiana poetria de arte prosaica, metrica, et rithmica ("Paris poetics of the art of prose, meter, and rhythm"), after 1229[4]
- Eberhard the German, Laborintus ("That which contains difficulty"), before 1280[4]
The most important of these is the Poetria nova by Vinsauf.[6][5] At least twelve medieval commentaries on the Poetria nova are known and it survives in over 200 manuscripts. It is itself written in verse and was used as a school text for primary (i.e., preuniversity) education. The works of Gervase and Eberhard, on the other hand, are closer to the grammatical tradition.[4]
The artes poetriae draw heavily on three classical works: Cicero's De inventione, Horace's Ars poetica and the Pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. A few make use of Cicero's De oratore and Quintilian's Institutio oratoria.[3] They stand at the intersection of the fields of rhetoric, grammar and poetry.[7]
References
- ↑ Nims 1982, p. 553: "the theory of poetic art, in its medieval formulation".
- ↑ Ziolkowski 2001: "compositional textbooks written in Latin for the Latin-based school curricula".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nims 1982, p. 553.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Ziolkowski 2001.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Nims 1982, p. 554.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Purcell 1996, p. 9.
- ↑ Purcell 1996, p. 7.
Bibliography
- Kelly, Douglas (1991). The Arts of Poetry and Prose. Brepols.
- Murphy, J. J. (2008). "The Arts of Poetry and Prose". In Alastair Minnis; Ian Johnson (eds.). The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism. Vol. II: The Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–67.
- Nims, Margaret F. (1982). "Ars Poetica". In Joseph R. Strayer (ed.). Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol. 1. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 553–555.
- Purcell, William Michael (1996). Ars Poetriae: Rhetorical and Grammatical Invention at the Margin of Literacy. University of South Carolina Press.
- Ziolkowski, Jan (2001). "Medieval Rhetoric". In Thomas O. Sloane (ed.). Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford University Press.
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