Two concepts of the poet, as craftsman (maker) and as inspired seer or quasi-priest, are already established in early Gr. lit. In Pindar they coexist, but Plato (notably in the Ion ) exaggerates the notion of poetic “mania” ( furor poeticus)in order to devalue the poet’s claim to rational knowledge of truth. Lat. lit. adopted the Gr. term poeta in the sense of craftsman, and accordingly Ennius, followed by Lucretius, attacked the native v ., soothsayer and oracle-monger, as uncouth and ignorant. But under the influence of the Stoic philosopher Posidonius and of Varro Reatinus, the Augustans revived the term v ., suitable to their notion of the genuinely Roman poet voicing the moral reforms inspired by the new regime. This vatic ideal is esp. advanced in Horace’s Ars poetica (391–407), where Orpheus is hailed as the original v ., though poets are also exhorted to tireless improvement of their lines by the “labor of the file.” Virgil claimed to be a v. (Aeneid 7.41), but after his death in 19 B.C. , enthusiasm for the v . waned even in Horace; and Ovid pokes open fun at his claims. But later poets like Manilius and Lucan are more respectful, and even in Tacitus’ Dialogus some memory of the Augustan status of the poet as seer persists. Eventually, in Pseudo-Longinus’ treatise On the Sublime , the concept of the inspired poet took on fresh and influential life.
User Comments Add a comment…