Ars poetriae
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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]