Cento (poetry)

[1] The Latin term cento derives from Greek κέντρων (kentrōn), meaning "'to plant slips' (of trees)".

[4] Ausonius (310–395) is the only poet from Antiquity to comment on the form and content of the Virgilian cento; his statements are afterward regarded as authoritative.

The individual fragments of poetry used should be no shorter than one half-line (one hemistich) and no longer than a full line and a half.

The Politics of Justus Lipsius (Politicorum Libri Sex, 1589) consists only of centos, there being nothing of his own but conjunctions and particles.

The following is an example in English, taken from The Dictionary of Wordplay (2001) by Dave Morice: I only know she came and went, (Lowell) Like troutlets in a pool; (Hood) She was a phantom of delight, (Wordsworth) And I was like a fool.