cento

A cento is a poem composed wholly from fragments from another poet’s work. The patchwork should be harmonized so as not to make the seams prominent and so that the new work has a unified sense. According to Ausonius, a cento should be composed from half lines and one-and-half lines; two successive lines from one source is permissible, but three lines represents a poetic failure. A small number of Virgilian centos (centos sourced from Virgil’s poems) and Homeric centos (centos sourced from the Iliad and Odyssey) have survived from antiquity. The most important of the former is Ausonius’s Cento nuptialis and Proba’s Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi. The most important of the latter is a Homeric cento on a wedding night from the Greek Anthology.