Nascuntur Poetae...

"We are gazing into some strange incomprehensible painting of Piero di Cosimo. . . ."

Born to be a poet, a gifted boy learns that he has been chosen for this special role in life. The literary life, he is told, will not be all fun and games, however, and
the boy quickly discovers that his destiny is both a blessing and a curse-both "wonderful
and terrible."

PROGRAM NOTE: This playlet was first published in the Yale Literary Magazine in 1918 under the title "The Walled City."

Piero di Cosimo (ca. 1462-1521) was a Florentine painter known for his conventional religious art and his fantastical paintings of mythological subjects as well as for panels in which he fused mythology with his own imagination. Wilder drew his title from the Latin aphorism, "Nascuntur poetae, fiunt oratores," or "Poets are born, orators are made." It is important to print the ellipsis dots as part of the title as Wilder wrote it, to imply the second half of the statement. Does it stretch the imagination too far to see a foretelling of Wilder's own life in this playlet?