27 pages • 54 minutes read
HoraceArs Poetica
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Necessity of Unity and Consistency
A major theme of Horace’s poem is the requirement of unity and consistency in verse. Horace argues that all the best poets and dramatists of the Greek tradition, like Homer and Euripides, wrote their plots, characters, and settings in harmony with their formal techniques. The form will depend on the elements of the narrative. Yet precision in beautiful description lends nothing to a poem if the poet cannot properly begin or finish their work. The purpose of poetry is twofold: It must be beautiful and pleasing to its audience. Unity is not only integral to beauty but also favored by learned audiences. This theme corresponds to the writing process. Horace insists that poets must feel the emotions they wish to impart before writing those emotions into the plot and characters: “If you would have me weep you must first express the passion of grief yourself; then, Telephus or Peleus, your misfortunes hurt me” (Lines 99-124, Paragraph 1). Here, Horace speaks to the emotional relations between the author, the audience, and the work of art, including its characters, like Telephus and Peleus, two heroes of Greek mythology.
In the beginning of the poem, Horace constructs vivid examples of inconsistent writing to highlight the importance of unity. The epic poet who embellishes their text with “purple patchwork” in unnecessary wording merely loses focus and lacks consistency in their narrative vision. The sculptor who adeptly crafts detailed fingers and hair, but fails to finish the entire piece, will never succeed. The writer who craves innovation in their work instead “paints the dolphin in the woods, the board in the sea” (Lines 1-43, Paragraph 3). All these examples emphasize the importance of unity through Horace’s entertaining yet intellectual tone. For the most part, Horace uses negative examples to explain the necessity of unity and consistency. That is, he describes errors to instruct poets on what not to do in their writing.
Style and organization follow the correct selection of subject matter. He says, “Neither elegance of style, nor a perspicuous disposition, shall desert the man, by whom the subject matter is chosen judiciously” (Lines 1-43, Paragraph 5). Poets with proper knowledge of their subjects will not overburden the beginning with too much information, but rather deliberately space out the actions to match the length and rhythm of the text. The poet’s awareness of when to provide detail and when to omit description “will constitute the merit and beauty of arrangement” (Lines 1-43, Paragraph 5).
The Purpose of Decorum in Poetry
Decorum combines unity and consistency with the ideal appropriateness of poetry. The ultimate aim of decorum in poetry is to instruct and or delight the audience. If a poet can achieve both these ends, their poetry will last beyond their lifetime. Both ends can be attained if the poet devotes their study to the comprehension of truth and the understanding of humanity. Here, Horace recommends the study of Socratic philosophy as well as observation of daily life. In the pursuit of knowledge, the poet develops, he says, “good sense […] the first principle and fountain of writing well” (Lines 309-46, Paragraph 1).
Horace emphasizes the propriety of style to the subject. Poets should always keep the audience in mind. Yet, audiences can vary. Poets may write for high-ranking military officers, senators and politicians, or middle-class consumers. Thus, the poet must understand the demands of each audience. Decorum includes awareness of each audience’s tastes. The poet must practice propriety to exhibit the accepted standards of behaviors and morals. Again, Horace insists that a poet must consistently unify the subject matter, the form, and the emotions of a story with the characteristics and desires of the audience. Different genres of poetry have their respective subjects, literary elements, meters, and purposes. For instance, tragedy should be written in a higher style than comedy, because tragedy is meant to move readers in profound ways, whether emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually.
Poetry also has the power to teach decorum to its readers. In effect, the purpose of poetry is, he says, “to distinguish the public from private weal; things sacred from things profane; to prohibit a promiscuous commerce between the sexes; to give laws to married people; to plan out cities; to engrave laws on [tables of] wood” (Lines 391-418, Paragraph 1). Poets can establish the conventions of behavior, the values of society, and the aspirations of the state. He writes, “[E]xcellent Homer and Tyrtaeus animated the manly mind to martial achievements with their verses” (Lines 391-418, Paragraph 1). In this sense, decorum is the power of poetry to instruct readers about the morals required to live a fulfilling and ethical life. Horace uses the example of Orpheus, the mythological demigod and musician, who civilized listeners with his lyre, saying, “Orpheus, the priest and interpreter of the gods, deterred the savage race of men from slaughters and inhuman diet” (Lines 391-418, Paragraph 1). Poetry, too, can humanize its readers if it accords with decorum.
The Importance of Diction
A principle of decorum is diction, the accurate and appropriate choice of words. Horace manipulates the common concepts and accepted notions of diction. Latin authors like Cicero and Varro organized diction into four categories: nature, analogy, customs, and authority. Nature points to the inherent elements of language. The essence of a word connotes its natural meanings and associations. Analogy refers to the transmission of ideas in varying yet clear expressions. Custom is the appropriate style of grammar and syntax for the educated citizenry. Authority justifies the application of certain words through linguistic similarity and usage by renowned authors. Horace also opens the debate about whether the poet should only use modern words, invent new words, and or revive old words.
According to Horace, the poet’s diction should use words familiar to audiences. Innovation should never sacrifice clarity. If a poet revives an old word, they must understand the implications and meanings of the word’s linguistic history. Horace encourages the use of new words, even if that means the loss of old words. Horace uses a simile to describe this process: “As leaves in the woods are changed with the fleeting years; the earliest fall off first: in this manner words perish with old age, and those lately invented flourish and thrive, like men in the time of youth” (Lines 44-72, Paragraph 1). Although Horace stresses the importance of tradition, he is not opposed to innovation, especially if undertaken with beauty and wisdom in mind. Horace compares the building of canals and redirecting of water sources for the enhancement of civilized life to the invention of new words in poetry. Furthermore, the revival of old words has less consequence for Horace’s contemporary audience if they are already familiar with the language, like ancient Greek. Using ancient Greek to innovate Roman poetry both refreshes the language and encourages students to read the works of classical antiquity.
