Up to now, the marriage between literary studies and sociological systems theory has been exclusively consummated on modern literature since 1800. This study is the first to adapt systems theory to the entirely different structures of poetology in pre-modern Europe (1600-1750). Central to the approach is the hypothesis that although the differentiation of the modern literary system has so far largely been described as an >event<, it should in fact be regarded both semantically and temporally as a very broad long-term process. Among other things, the study traces the conversions undergone by crucial poetological concepts, placing special emphasis on the central role of media in disseminating and developing poetological knowledge.