As a (however slyly) self-identified ars poetica, the poem explores the art of poetry. The poem is concerned with the classical concept of genius. While the word “genius” is used now as a description of extreme intelligence, its origins lie in classical Roman thinking, where a genius was a divine entity or spirit that watched over an individual. The poem’s speaker refers to these Greco-Roman ways of thinking in the third stanza, where they state that poetry is “dictated by a daimonion” (Line 9).

Rather than celebrating the individual’s own wellspring of creativity, like the romantic poets, Miłosz’s poem understands inspiration as an “indecent,” non-angelic, potentially “evil” entity that proceeds from outside the poet (Lines 5, 36). “Ars Poetica?” expresses a view of genius independent from the artist: The poem is a thief of the poet’s “lips or hand” (Line 15), and alters “his destiny for their convenience” (Line 16).

However, inspiration is not entirely sinister in Miłosz’s poem. After all, the poem’s speaker describes inspiration as benign as well as diabolical. The poem presents a view unlike the classical conception of the singular, personal divine entity or muse. It departs from more recent romantic views, which celebrate the individual’s internal creative force.