The Art of Poetry was written by Horace, a poet and critic of the Roman Empire. This is a poetic letter to the Roman aristocrat Piso and his son, with a total of 476 lines. Combined with the current situation of Roman literature and art at that time, the letter put forward the principles of poetry and drama creation.
Main idea
Poetic art believes that works should conform to natural creation and be close to reality; Second, it must conform to the psychology of the audience and meet expectations; Third, it should conform to the laws of art and be used moderately. Based on this, a general principle is put forward: appropriateness is rationality.
The letter also believes that art is the joint creation of genius and skill. Genius is judgment, that is, the ability of rational understanding and judgment. To succeed in writing, judgment is the beginning and the source. "It is more important than skill, but we must' use each other and combine them'.
Skills training mainly comes from three aspects: first, imitating Greek classical works, taking them as examples, and "playing" day and night; The other is to dare to be original and "not fall into the Greek mold"; The third is to be brave enough to accept criticism and constantly revise the works.
Horace also clearly put forward the viewpoint of "entertaining through education" in his letter, arguing that "entertaining through education can not only convince readers, but also make readers like it, thus achieving expectations." "Teaching through fun" is the desire and purpose of the poet's artistic creation, and it is also the influence and effect of the poet's artistic creation.
Horace emphasized that the purpose of teaching should be achieved through the influence of emotion. "It is not enough for a poem to be beautiful, but it must also be charming and must be able to influence the reader's mind according to the author's wishes." Charm comes from the author's emotion. "You have to laugh first to make others laugh. Similarly, you have to cry first to make others cry. " .
meaning
The art of poetry embodies a realistic spirit of seeking novelty in inheriting tradition. It inherited Aristotle, started the end of Renaissance and later classicism, and had a far-reaching influence on literary creation from 16 to 18 century, especially the creation of drama and poetry.