Only a Poet Never Lies… Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski’s Thoughts on the Privilege of Poets

In his treatise De perfecta poesi, sive Vergilius et Homerus, Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski presents his reflections on poetic art and states that poets never lie. This privilege results from the conviction that a poet creates in the same way as God, bringing his characters to life. That is why “he can speak about what is not, as if it really existed.” Poetic fictions are also often a veil behind which a precious truth is hidden. This truth can be reached by using an appropriate allegorical interpretation.