The arte of english poesie opens by praising homer and his ability to “set forth and describe” the Iliad and the Odyssey, comparing it to the practical abilities of a general or a “perfect surveyor.” Having commented on the etymology of the Classical word for poet, Puttenham goes on to describe poetry in terms that relate to the practice of making, marking, planning, and measuring out an object or place. The conceit of the poet as a perfect surveyor is a useful one with which to introduce the topic of this book, for it draws a parallel between narrative and place, asking us to imagine the poem as a kind of literary landscape that we might survey in our mind's eye, as if it were a vista.