Horace for students of literature: the ''Ars poetica'' and its tradition

808 Pages·1995·1.73 MB·English

by  O. B. Hardison

Horace for Students of Literature : The "Ars
title:
Poetica" and Its Tradition
author: Hardison, O. B.
publisher: University Press of Florida
isbn10 | asin: 0813013542
print isbn13: 9780813013541
ebook isbn13: 9780813019697
language: English
Horace.--Ars poetica, Epistolary poetry,
Latin--History and criticism, Literature--
History and criticism--Theory, etc, Didactic
subject poetry, Latin--History and criticism,
Aesthetics, Ancient--Poetry, Criticism--
Rome--Poetry, Horace--Influence, Poetics--
Poetry,
publication date: 1995
lcc: PA6393.H67 1995eb
ddc: 871/.01
Horace.--Ars poetica, Epistolary poetry,
Latin--History and criticism, Literature--
History and criticism--Theory, etc, Didactic
subject: 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
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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 6 5 4 3 2 1
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)
1. Horace. Ars poetica. 2. Epistolary poetry, Latin History and
criticism. 3. Literature History and criticism Theory, etc.
4. Aesthetics, Ancient Poetry. 5. Horace Influence. 6. Poetics
Poetry. 7. 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
xiii
I. Ars Poetica
by Horace
Introduction
3
Ars Poetica
7
Translated by Leon Golden
Life and Work of Horace
23
Commentary
42
II. Poetria Nova
by Geoffrey of Vinsauf
Introduction
91
Poetria Nova
93
translated by Margaret F. Nims
Commentary
149
III. L'Art Poétique
by Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Introduction and Commentary
159
L'Art Poétique
180
translated by Sir William Soames
(revised by John Dryden)
IV. An Essay on Criticism
by Alexander Pope
Introduction and Commentary 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 257
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers 263
Hints from Horace 291
The Kantian Revolution 313
VI. Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction
by Wallace Stevens
Introduction and Commentary 325
Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction 337
Notes
Horace 356
Geoffrey of Vinsauf 358
Boileau 359
Pope 362
Byron 364
Stevens 372
Bibliography 375
General Index 381
Index of Foreign Terms 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