Shattering tradition: A rejection of analysis by genre in Horace’s Ars poetica
Abstract
The following paper undertakes a critical review and examination ofthe various attempts over the last century and a half of scholarship inClassical Philology to categorize that most singular work of Horace,the Ars poetica. Commentators and critics of the poem haveendeavoured to include the work of the Augustan poet within variouspre-determined — somewhat tendentious — generic categories,including: the didactic treatise, the verse letter, the literary epistle,the didactic poem, and the sermo. Through critiquing theseapproaches I shall argue that the Ars, whether through form orsubject, manages to subvert the criteria of these generic boundaries,and locates itself within a unique territory. Apart from addressing theproblems involved in classifying the Ars, this paper also tacklessome other general concerns of generic analysis in ClassicalPhilology.Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (BY-NC-ND 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).