Occasional poetry: poetry that is written in response to an incident or that reacts to an event; that emerges in specific circumstances, from them, or in light of them; and which often has a particular manner and style.

Historically, poetry characterized as occasional is positioned at the opposite end of poetry that is considered to be captured, composed, and received freely, and is judged in contrast to the idea of a self-invoked, free, and independent poetry that arises in a state of autonomy and aspires to achieve poetic height, as well as institutional recognition.

How did the literary tradition of the West arrive at the distinction between occasional and non-occasional poetry? This book attempts to answer that question by tracing the emergence of occasional poetry as both a descriptive and evaluative category. Beginning from antiquity and following significant moments along this path, the book stops at the climax that marked the end of the Middle Ages, when in the new cultural condition of written language, the separation between poetry that arises from circumstances and addresses them, and poetry that is implied not to do so, was redefined.

This essay constitutes a contribution to the historical and theoretical understanding of the possibility of this distinction.

Contents

1. What is occasional poetry?

2. Towards the establishment of the category of occasional poetry: the foundations of the classical tradition

3. What is love? The occasion of poetry in the early modern lyricism

4. Love in the purifying flames: the composition of high poetry in vernacular language

5. From poetria to poetry as form

6. The new condition of poetic experience

7. The autonomy of poetry and its circumstances

Conclusion

Appendix

Primary sources

Bibliography