HORACE:THE LANGUAGE OF POETRY

Posted by JOTTINGS ON LITERATURE | Monday, October 18, 2010 | , , | 0 comments »

Horace says both familiar and unfamiliar words and expressions can be used in poem if they are unambiguous and effective. However, the familiar words and expressions are to be preferred to the unfamiliar. It improves the diction. However, if the poet feels that the existing expressions cannot convey what he wants to convey to the readers he can coin new words and expressions. Horace does not place any bar on employing new words and expressions. He is well aware of the fact that words have their birth, growth and death. Sometime some words even resurrect after decades and centuries.
The writer must show his ‘taste’ and ‘care’ in ordering his words and expressions. He is of the view that it is the ‘lucid arrangement’ of words that is of utmost importance. He opines that if the new words and expressions are derived from Greek words and expressions they would be appropriate and effective.
Horace has also discusses the issue of ‘genius’ and ‘art’. Is it natural endowment or training that makes a poet great? Horace answers that both are necessary to excel as a poet. He says no amount of training can substitute for lack of natural inclination. Similarly natural inclination alone without appropriate training of the mind cannot produce works of everlasting significance. He says “each gifts needs the other’s aid and joins in friendly union”. However, Horace just as Aristotle does stress the importance of training. Horace holds that “The wind of genius bloweth where it listeth and is beyond human control

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