The major purpose of this study is the descriptive analysis of a large body of literature, mainly technical, which attempts to explain the structure of sentences and ordering of their elements, on the linguistic and artistic levels. It is hoped that this study helps to document the relevance of technical material for the proper understanding of creative literature by focusing on the factors which conditioned at an early stage the particular forma mentis of authors and critics. More essentially, however, it is a study in the history of syntax and its development out of independent yet allied "arts." Some criteria of selectivity have been applied due to the proportions and inherent repetitiveness of this literature. After the year 1600, the geographical areas and languages handled are English, French, and Italian. The two crucial stages in our history, antiquity and the French eighteenth century, are covered with reasonable completeness, while the others are based on a representative sampling. An author index is provided, as well as a 27-page bibliography categorized in sections on an historical basis. (Author/JF)