Note 81 — Chapter II · RHYTHM AS THE ESSENTIAL FACT OF POETRY

A clear summary of the case as argued in Italy may be found in Quadrio, Della Storia e della Ragione d’ogni Poesia, I. Bologna, 1739; II.-VII. Milan, 1741-1752. See I. 2 ff. Quadrio is outright for the test of verse and for a generous rendering of Aristotle. He gives the names of forgotten pleaders on both sides, and thinks the noes have it against a traditional Aristotelian view; not to quarrel forever, “Basta, che nacque la Poesia col Verso e col Canto: né, propagata fra le nazioni, fu altrimenti mai lavorato che in Verso.”—Spingarn, Literary Criticism in the Renaissance, New York, 1899, pp. 9 ff., points out that Mantuan was for the verse-test, Savonarola, Minturno, Daniello, against it.