Scholia are marginal or interlinear annotations, commentaries, or explanatory notes added to poetic texts by ancient or medieval scholars to clarify obscure references, interpret metaphors, or preserve variant readings; in poetic practice, the term may also refer to poems that incorporate scholia as part of their structure—embedding commentary within or alongside the primary verse—to create layered, dialogic texts that interrogate authorship, interpretation, and textual authority, as seen in the erudite, footnote-laden works of David Foster Wallace or Anne Carson’s “Nox,” where annotation becomes an integral poetic mode.

Scholia are ancient commentaries or annotations on classical texts. Historical term for marginal notes. Related to gloss and commentary traditions. Study medieval manuscript culture. Modern poets sometimes incorporate as technique.