Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Plot
- 2 Time
- 3 Narrative and speech
- 4 Focalisation
- 5 Effects on the reader
- 6 Gaps and omissions
- 7 Poetic licence
- 8 Authentication
- 9 Style
- 10 Allusions, hints, hidden meanings
- 11 Characters
- 12 Mythography
- PART II
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Greek terms
- Editions of scholia
- Other abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Thematic index
- Index locorum
7 - Poetic licence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Plot
- 2 Time
- 3 Narrative and speech
- 4 Focalisation
- 5 Effects on the reader
- 6 Gaps and omissions
- 7 Poetic licence
- 8 Authentication
- 9 Style
- 10 Allusions, hints, hidden meanings
- 11 Characters
- 12 Mythography
- PART II
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Greek terms
- Editions of scholia
- Other abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Thematic index
- Index locorum
Summary
There is a general agreement among ancient authors and readers that a poet is not bound by the same constraints as other writers, but instead enjoys a certain liberty, which to this day is often referred to as ‘poetic licence’. An early discussion comes from Isocrates, who expressly opposes poets and logographers:
τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ποιηταῖς πολλοὶ δέδονται κόσμοι· καὶ γὰρ πλησιάζοντας τοὺς θεοὺς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οἷόν τ᾿ αὐτοῖς ποιῆσαι καὶ διαλεγομένους καὶ συναγωνιζομένους οἷς ἂν βουληθῶσι, καὶ περὶ τούτων δηλῶσαι μὴ μόνον τοῖς τεταγμένοις ὀνόμασιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ξένοις, τὰ δὲ καινοῖς, τὰ δὲ μεταΦοραῖς, καὶ μηδὲν παραλιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ πᾶσιν τοῖς εἴδεσιν διαποικῖλαι τὴν ποίησιν· τοῖς δὲ περὶ τοὺς λόγους οὐδὲν ἔξεστι τῶν τοιούτων κτλ.
(Isocr. Euag. 9–10)For many ornaments have been granted to poets. They can represent the gods as interacting with humans, conversing and fighting alongside whomsoever they wish, and they can portray this not only with conventional language but also with borrowings, new terms and metaphors, not neglecting anything but embellishing their composition with every figure. Such devices do not exist for prose writers.
Although Isocrates does not use what later became the standard term for ‘poetic licence’, ποιητικὴ ἄδεια or ἐξουσία (see below), his description contains several of the commonly used arguments: poets are not constrained to adhere closely to the principles of realism or even historicity. And they enjoy considerable stylistic liberties.
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- Information
- The Ancient Critic at WorkTerms and Concepts of Literary Criticism in Greek Scholia, pp. 174 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009