Ars poetriae


The Latin term ars poetriae refers both to the medieval theory of poetic composition and to a genre of technical treatise on the same. A core set of four texts known as artes poetriae was first published by Edmond Faral in 1924. Two more were later added. All six of them were written in Latin between about 1175 and 1280 by five different authors all connected to the University of Paris. All six texts have received critical editions and English translations.
The six artes are:
The most important of these is the Poetria nova. At least twelve medieval commentaries on the Poetria nova are known and it survives in over 200 manuscripts. It is itself written in verse and was used as a school text for primary education. The works of Gervase and Eberhard are closer to the grammatical tradition than the others.
The artes poetriae draw heavily on three classical works: Cicero's De inventione, Horace's Ars poetica and the Pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. A few make use of Cicero's De oratore and Quintilian's Institutio oratoria. They stand at the intersection of rhetoric, grammar and poetry.