Поезия и проза - поетика и реторика

The article discusses the differentiation between poetry and prose in the context of ancient literature. In the beginning they are contrasted, poetry being literary, fictional discourse while prose being utilitarian. The purveyor of the literary essence is the poet, divinely inspired. The author dwells on three junctures in the history of literature where relations between poetry and prose change. As the author sees it, the ancients never pondered on genre from a theoretical point of view. An examination of the changing relation between poetics and rhetoric on the one hand and literary discourse on the other also features prominently in the article.