The End of the Poem

This chapter assesses the end of Horace's Ars Poetica. In considering the poem's final lines, the chapter returns to its opening ones, showing how they are linked through a concern with the visual and with making and creating in numerous manifestations. It proposes that the Ars Poetica be read as an ars poiētikē, art of creating, for Horace's interests lie in the overlap of all human pursuits. The source of Latin poetica—and with it “poet,” “poem,” and “poetry”—the Greek verb poiein is rather more wide ranging in its senses, encompassing “make, produce, bring into existence, cause, and do,” that is, making and creating in a multitude of forms. In addition, in concluding the Ars Poetica by indulging himself in a flight of the sublime, Horace ends the poem's conversation on creative endeavor by revealing definitively his superior and unmatchable mastery of the literary art.