The Arte of English Poesie — Reading Companion

The Printer's Address and Authorial Ambiguity

The volume begins with a letter from printer Richard Field to Sir William Cecil, explaining that the manuscript arrived 'with his bare title without any Authours name.' Field hesitated to present it to Cecil, fearing the subject 'so slender' as to be beneath a statesman, but ultimately deemed it a 'deuice of some noueltie' worthy of the Queen. This framing reveals the work's uncertain authorship—still debated—and its intended audience: the Queen for 'her recreation and seruice,' yet also learned men like Cecil. The printer's self-deprecating tone ('a feat of mine owne simple facultie') contrasts with the treatise's ambitious scope, hinting at the cultural prestige of poetic theory in Elizabethan England.

Coining English Terms for Classical Figures

Puttenham systematically translates Greek rhetorical terms into English, often with a moral or behavioral twist. For aposiopesis, he offers 'the Figure of silence' or 'of interruption,' and notes it suits 'phantasticall heads and such as be sodaine or lacke memorie.' He even recounts knowing 'one of good learning' who breaks off his tale at the flight of a bird. This blend of technical definition with character observation makes the treatise feel like a guide to both writing and social conduct. Similarly, hypozeuxis becomes 'the Substitute,' illustrated by verses where a single verb serves multiple subjects—as in 'My Ladie laughs for ioy, and I for wo.' Puttenham's coinages are not always elegant, but they reflect a deliberate effort to make classical rhetoric accessible to English readers.

Examples Drawn from Love and Morality

The excerpts show Puttenham favoring examples that involve romantic or moral dilemmas. For prolepsis, he might have used a lover's anticipation; for aposiopesis, he gives a man checking his sweetheart for whispering with a rival: 'And did ye not come by his chamber dore? / And tell him that: goe to, I say no more.' Another example describes a young man who avenges his father's death and mother's rape, with the word 'requite' serving 'a double sence: that is to say, to reuenge, and to satisfie.' These miniature narratives not only clarify the figure but also embed the treatise in a world of courtly intrigue and ethical action, where poetic skill is inseparable from social judgment.

The Figure of Silence and Interruption

Puttenham devotes unusual attention to aposiopesis, breaking it into subtypes based on the speaker's motive: fear, shame, anger, or sudden distraction. For fear, he quotes: 'He said you were, I dare not tell you plaine / For words once out, neuer returne againe.' For shame, the speaker trails off with 'goe to, I say no more.' For anger, a threat is left unfinished: 'I sweare by God, but let this be the last.' This taxonomy reveals Puttenham's interest in the psychology of utterance—how silence can communicate as much as speech. His remark that the figure is 'fit for phantasticall heads' suggests a link between rhetorical device and personality, a theme that runs through the treatise.

Readers approaching The Arte of English Poesie should attend to the interplay between classical learning and English vernacular. Puttenham's invented terms and his habit of illustrating figures with miniature dramas make the work as much a mirror of Elizabethan social life as a technical manual. The incomplete evidence of authorship and the printer's apologetic preface add layers of historical intrigue. For those interested in Renaissance rhetoric, this edition offers a direct encounter with a foundational text that shaped English poetic theory.