Ars Poetica (Horace)

The Ars Poetica has "exercised a great influence in later ages on European literature, notably on French drama",[2] and has inspired poets and authors since it was written.

[6] "Written, like Horace's other epistles of this period, in a loose conversational frame, Ars Poetica consists of 476 lines containing nearly 30 maxims for young poets.

(b) Dramatic poetry calls for special care – as to character drawing, propriety of representation, length of a play, number of actors, use of the chorus and its music, special features for the satyric type, verse-forms, and employment of Greek models (ll.

(c) A poet's qualifications include common sense, knowledge of character, adherence to high ideals, combination of the dulce with the utile, intellectual superiority, appreciation of the noble history and lofty mission of poetry, and above all a willingness to listen to and profit by impartial criticism (ll.

[13] Some cited that decorum enforces subordination such as of parts to whole, woman to man, desire to reason, and individual to state.

[14] In line 191, Horace warns against deus ex machina, the practice of resolving a convoluted plot by having an Olympian god appear and set things right.

Horace writes "Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus": "That a god not intervene, unless a knot show up that be worthy of such an untangler".