Colloquia Theologica Ottoniana

Baroque epigrams are sometimes criticised and considered as not interesting and sophisticated enough. It appears that today’s readers and interpreters may be wrong not only in their judgements but also in their understanding of the achievements of the past era. With the passage of time, literary studies have lost the enthymeme, which is a major component of the creative process and one of the methods for interpreting the meaning of poetry. The principles applied when using rhetorical syllogism in poetry are discussed in chapter eight of the work entitled Ars nova argutiarum by one of the most eminent Jesuit scholars of the 17th century, namely Jakub Masen. The author deals with the understanding of enthymeme as it is established in dialectics and rhetoric, based on Aristotle’s lecture. On the one hand, Masen leans towards the so-called stylistic concept of understanding the phenomenon, linking it – in principle – with the composition of the work. His lecture is illustrated with numerous examples and shows how to combine syllogism with other poetic means. The Jesuit’s work is all the more valuable because it was a kind of itinerarium for beginners in the art of poetry. The work allowed students and readers to discover nuances of the creative process. Today, it can be a useful tool in “deciphering” the message contained in epigrams, which will allow for even more effective and correct explanation and interpretation of the epigrams of the past