POE. 151 POETRY. corps of topographical engineers. In 18G1 he served for a time as chief engineer of the Depart- ment of Ohio, but later was made colonel of the Second ilichigan Volunteers, and in 1862 took part in the Virginia and ilaryland campaigns. On Xovember 29th he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. The next spring he was trans- ferred to the West as chief engineer of the Cen- tral District of Kentucky, and was Burnside's chief engineer during the defense of Knoxville (Xovember 18-December 4. 1803), when he earned the brevet of major in the Regular Army. In I8(J4 he was appointed chief engineer of Sherman's army, participating in the invasion of Georgia and the campaign which ended with the sur- render of General J. E. Johnston. He was bre- vetted brigadier-general in the Regular Army in 186.5, and was commissioned colonel of engineers in 1888. After the Civil War he was for a num- ber of years secretary of the United States Board of Lighthouse Commissioners, and had charge of the construction of many important river and harbor works, among them the Spectacle Reef and Stannard Rock Lighthouses and the great lock on the Sault Ste. Marie. PCE'CILE (Lat., from Gk. iroiKO.ri, poikile, variegated ) . The name given, because of the paintings which adorned it, to a famous stoa, or portico, in Athens, from which the Stoics (q.v. ) were named. PCEIfULTTS ( Lat.. the young Carthaginian ) . A comedy by Plautus, imitated from the Kapx')Wiioj of Jlenander and produced in B.C. 189. The chief character is a Carthaginian who is stolen at an early age. He becomes enamored of one of two girls who eventually turn out to be his cous- ins. The play contains a famous Phoenician passage in Latin characters. POEBIO, pi>a're-o. Carlo, Baron (1803-67). An Italian patriot. He was born at Naples. De- cember 10, 1803. In 1828 he joined the liberals of Naples and took part in the conspiracy of Avel- lino. for which he was imprisoned for a long time- He was concerned in the abortive attempt of 1847, but was discovered, and after the movement at Reggio was sent back to prison. The revolution which broke out at Palermo. .January 12. 1848, set him at liberty, and he immediately gave him- self to the organization of the famous demonstra- tion of .January 27, 1848, which brought about the Constitution of February 10th. Poerio was nomi- nated director of police and ^Minister of Public Instruction ; but he soon resigned. He was chosen Deputy to the Parliament. In 1849 the Govern- ment Blade extraordinary efforts to convict him of conspiring against it. but no valid case was made, and on the testimony of a suborned wit- ness he was sentenced to twenty-four years' im- prisonment. In .January, 18.59, Poerio and other political prisoners were put on board of a vessel in order to be transported to South America, but were transferred to an American ship, which landed them at Cork, whence they returned, by London, to Turin. In the following year Poerio was elected Deputy from Tuscany and took his seat in Parliament. When Garibaldi (q.v.) had driven out the Bourbon dynasty, Poerio returned to Naples. He became a member of the Pri^y Council, and subsequently vice-president of the Parliament. He died at Florence. POETASTER, The. A comedy by Ben .Jon- son (1001), attacking Marston and Dekker, to which they retorted with tiutiromastix. The scene is Rome in the time of Augustus ; Marston ap- pears as Crispinus, Dekker as Demetrius, and they are punished for conspiracy against Horace, representing .Jonson. POET AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE, The. a series of essays and poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes, contributed to the Atlantic Monthly, in 1871. These delightful sketches, in the vein of the Autocrat and the Professor, dif- fer onl;^ in the seriousness of tone and subject. POETICS (Gk. ir^pl TToiTfTiKris, peri poictikcs). A fragmentary treatise by Aristotle on the phi- losophy of art, and especially of poetry. All we have of it ( and possibly all that was ever writ- ten) is the discussion of epic poetry and the tragic drama, fortunately enriched with many allusions to the other arts; but restricted as it is, this treatise is unquestionably the most im- portant work on criticism ever written, intrinsic- ally as well as historically. Art. in Aristotle's conception, is 'imitation of life,' and its purpose is to give pleasure. This doctrine can be fully understood only in the light of Aristotle's meta- physical conceptions. He defines life as action or as an activity, and undoubtedly has in mind what elsewhere he calls the formal and moving causes, corresponding very closely to Plato's 'Ideas;' the 'imitation,' therefore, has a far subtler meaning than first appears, referring to the instinctive idealizations which underlie ar- tistic embodiments, and form the essence of the artist's effort. Asain. pleasure as the purpose of art must be understood to refer only to the finer satisfactions of taste; in no sense are gross enjoyments intended. Poetry, Aristotle held, ap- pears as a result of a natural instinct and of native love of rhythm. At the same time the poet must have the "gift of metaphor," and this comes "not by art, but as a happy gift of nature." Perhaps the most acute of Aristotle's aesthetic theories is his explanation of the office of tragedy. This he finds to be a purgation of the passions, katharsis, through terror and noble pity. It is an exercise of the emotions in moderation, and so a relief of the tendency to emotional expression which men nat- urally have, without the wrack and strain which extreme emotion incurs. Hence it is akin to physical purgation, and is further a kind of pleasure because it contributes to that general temperance which was the Greek ideal of excel- lence. Consult: Butcher, Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, with a Critical Text and Translation of the Poetics (3d ed., New York, 1903). POET LAUREATE. See Laureate, Poet. POETRY. See literatures of the various na- tions, as EXGUSH. Frexch, Greek. Italian. Pro- VEXi'AL. etc. See, also. Epic Poetry; Lyric Poetry; Pastor.l Poetry; VER.sincATio>' ; Rhyme; Blank Verse; Epigram: Madrio.i,; Sonnet; B.llad; Ballade; Minstrel; Troi'- BADOIR; MeISTERSINGER; illNNESINGER. .See. toO, individual poems, such as the M.HAnH.^R.T. ; Veoa ; Beowulf ; Roland ; Nibeluxgenlied ; EdDA. etc. POETRY, Spasmodic School of. A name sometimes applied to certain English authors of the nineteenth century whose writings are strained and unnatural in style. Of this class the best known are Philip James Bailey,
