Horace on Poetry: Prolegomena to the Literary Epistles

This is the first of Professor Brink’s three-volume commentary on Horace’s literary epistles, originally published in 1963. The volumes’ chief focus is the primary source of Horatian literary criticism: the Epistula ad Pisones, known as the Ars Poetica to most ancient and modern readers. Volume I of Horace on Poetry looks at the structure of the Ars Poetica, Neoptolemus and literary criticism, and the criticism and satire of Horace. Professor Brink’s overriding argument is that the common dismissal of the Ars as a disorderly piece fails to take into account Horace’s architectonic style. For Brink, this disorder is itself part of an intrinsic poetic design. The complete three-volume commentary constitutes one of the fullest scholarly commentaries on Horace’s critical writing. It will continue to be of great value to all with an interest in this much-debated subject.