Throughout its history, philosophical writings have primarily been conventional expositions of arguments. However, there
have been exceptions, notably the
literary forms of the dialogue, the aphorism, the poem, and others. Sometimes, the chosen format functioned specifically to convert the reader, but sometimes not. This paper looks at the relationship, or the lack of one, between literary forms and intent. There is specific scrutiny of Lucretius's "Of the Nature of Things" and Spinoza's "Ethics".