The Art of Poetry, in Medicine

The great classical poet Horace wrote “Ars Poetica” around 19 BCE, his famous poem that uses the techniques of poetry itself to describe what poetry is and how it functions. Most memorably, perhaps, he declares that poetry must both “delight and instruct.” Since then, many poets have written their own versions of “Ars Poetica,” offering their own meditations regarding poetry as an art form. In this venerable and contentious tradition we can locate “Ars Poetica Medica,” which grapples with the po...