The present paper proposes to study the metaliterary implications of a
series of literary fictions in neo-Latin poetry. Special attention is given to the
introductory poem in J. Secundus’ Basia and to the youthful elegies by D.
Heinsius. Themes such as the birth of the kiss, which is present in these compositions
either directly or allusively, are characteristic in the poetics of that
time of suavitas and venustas. Examining these compositions from such a
perspective reveals the way in which the poet has moulded his own persona
and the parallelism between the conception of style and the thematic configuration
of literary motifs.
