The Arte of English Poesie

George Puttenham argues that English poetry can be studied through an ordered set of rules, drawing on the language's own resources. Printed in 1589, his treatise divides the subject into three books on poets and poetry, proportion, and ornament. The opening calls the poet a maker and considers how invention relates to imitation. It also defends English as a language capable of expressing ideas through rhyme and other patterns, with a poetic art suited to its particular qualities.

Later passages turn these broad arguments into detailed examples of how sentences work. Puttenham explains how a missing word can be supplied by the reader's understanding and how a single verb can serve several clauses. Greek terms sit beside English names that make the figures easier to identify. Readers interested in the craft of verse or the history of literary criticism will find a study that moves between large claims about poetry and small choices of wording. Its early spelling preserves the texture of the language being examined.