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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Poetry, -ie, n. Also: -ye, -é; poyetrie. [ME and e.m.E. poetrie (Chaucer), poeterye (Caxton), OF poetrie, -erie, old It. poetría, late and med. L. poetria, f. poeta Poet n.]

1. Rendering med. L. poetria (= an ars poetica or treatise on the art of poetry).Here appar. with specific reference to the Nova Poetria of Geoffrey de Vinsauf. c1420 Wynt. ix Prol. 5.
‘Poetry Nowel’ quha wil red, Thare may thai fynd quhow to procede [etc.]

2. ? Imaginative writing, fiction, in general; ? poetical fiction.But in many or all instances, interpretation as next sense is equally possible. c1400 Troy-bk. i 588.
And thus of Medea fynd I Recordit in all poetrye a1500 Henr. Fab. 1.
Thocht fenȝeit fabillis of auld poetrie Be nocht all groundit vpon treuth Ib. 13. Ib. 1103.
Sad sentence men may seik, and efter fyne, As daylie dois the doctouris of deuyne, That … paynt thair mater furth be poetry a1500 Colk. Sow i 435.
For this is bot a fantesy And littill poynt of poetry c1500-c1512 Dunb. lxv 13.
The dirk apperance of astronomie; The theologis sermoun; the fablis of poetry 1513 Doug. Comm. i Prol. 193.
Vnder derk poetrye is hid gret wisdome and lerning a1500 Henr. Orph. 420 (Bann.).
Vndir the cloik of poetre [Asl. poecy] a1570-86 Arbuthnot Maitl. F. xxx 12.
And hellis pane is comptit poetrie

3. Poetry. a. Poems, collectively. b. The art or medium of poetry; composition in verse; poetic literature.a. c1400 Troy-bk. i 521.
Ovyd in hys poetrye Wrait of hyr c1552 Lynd. Mon. 963.
Uirgill, in tyll his poetrye, Nor Cicero … War neuer half so eloquentb. a1508 Kennedy Flyt. 498.
Our imperfyte in poetry, or in prose 1513 Doug. i Prol. 56 (Sm.).
Nane … Had has or sal have sic crafte in poetrie Of Helicon so drank thou c1552 Lynd. Mon. 3582.
In Grece the ornat poetry, Medecene, musike, astronomy, Duryng this first monarche began a1570-86 Arbuthnot Maitl. F. xxix 169.
In poetrie I pleis to pas the tyme 1567 Sat. P. iii 139.
Than sall I wryte in prettie poetrie, In Latine leid, in style rethoricall Ib. 215. Ib. vi 9.
Thair plesand flowre of poyetrie

c. (Latin and Greek) poetry, as an academic subject.See also Buch. Wr. 9, s.v. Poet n. (3). 1568 Reg. Privy S. VI 98/1.
Maister of the grammer scole … with power … scollaris to ressave and to teiche thame in grammer, rethorik and poetrie 1577 Ib. VII 181/1.
In … Edinburgh … ane college in the quhilk was appointit to be thre scoillis, ane thairof for the bairnis in grammer, ane uther for thame that leiris poetrie and oratorie [etc.]