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Poeta Imitatore or Poeta Facitore? Late Renaissance Italian Discussions about MimesisThe article presents the opposition to the imitative dimension of mimesis, one of the characteristic trends in Italian late Renaissance thought in literary theory. Examples of polemics against the traditional doctrine of mimesis (F. Patrizi i G. G. Cinzio), comments on Plato’s concept of fantastic mimesis (G. Mazzoni, G. Comanini) and the terminological decisions of XVI c. theorists, willing to use the terms fingere and fare instead of the traditional imitare, show that in literary theoretical reflection at the time of the Renaissance appeared a clear appreciation of the fictionally creative aspect of poetic work. The creative dimension of the poets’ craft, utilizing creativity and imagination, is preferred and valued incomparably higher than the copy–cat method of “creating images” at the end of the XVI c.