46 Poetics

(e) Song is particular to [the art of] music; hence [the poet]will need to take his starting-points complete in themselvesfrom that [art].

(f) Spectacle supplies * * as a great need to dramas.Plot, diction and song are observed in all comedies, reason-

ings, character and spectacle in [not] a few.

4.2 The quantitative parts of comedy

There are four parts of comedy: (a) prologue, (b) choral [part],(c) episode and (d) exit.

(a) A prologue is a part of a comedy that is up to the entry ofthe chorus.

(b) A choral [part] is the song sung by the chorus, when it hassufficient magnitude.

(c) An episode is the [part] between two choral songs.(d) An exit is the [part] uttered at the end by the chorus.

4.3 The three kinds of comedy

[The kinds] of comedy are (a) old, which goes to excess in thelaughable; (b) new, which abandons this, and inclines towardsthe grand; and (c) middle, which is mixed from both.

A Hypothetical Reconstructionof Poetics II

(based on the TractatusCoislinianus and the

fragments of Poetics II)

1. The field of the enquiry

Our [next] topic is lampoons and comedy, [and what potentialeach has; how many kinds of the laughable there are, of whatsort they are, and how they should be used if the compositionis to turn out well; also, from how many parts comedy is consti-tuted, and of what sort they are; and likewise all other aspectsof the same enquiry. Let us begin again, following the naturalorder, from first principles.]

1.1 The kinds of poetry are classifiedaccording to (a) representation

[As we said,] poetry is of two kinds, non-representational andrepresentational, [depending on whether the name "poet" isapplied according to representation, or merely according to themedia used, i.e. song and verse. The non-representational kindis divided into] (a) historical and (b) educational (whether this isfor instruction or theoretical investigation). [As we said, evenwhen someone puts such works into verse, he is not rightlycalled a poet according to representation.]

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48 Poetics

1.2 The kinds of poetry are classified accordingto (b) the manner of the representation

[Representational poetry is divided according to the manner inwhich the representation is produced, into] (a) narrative [likeepic], and (b) dramatic, i.e. enacted [like comedy and tragedy.]

1.3 The kinds of poetry are classified accordingto (c) the objects of the representation

[Dramatic poetry, as we said, represents people doing things,and these people and their actions are either good or inferior.The difference between] comedy and tragedy [is that the formeraims to represent people as worse, the latter as better, thanthey are: we may add] mimes and satyr-plays. [So let this ac-count of representation, its points of difference, and how manyand what they are, suffice.]

2. The function of tragedy

[Just as I showed that tragedy and comedy arose from causesnatural to man, so too they arose by nature for an end, namelythe catharsis of human emotions. We have already seen howthis is accomplished in tragedy. If it is properly constructed,]tragedy reduces the soul's emotions of [pity and] terror bymeans of compassion and dread, [which are aroused by therepresentation of pitiable and terrible events. By "reduces", Imean that] tragedy aims to [make the spectator] have a due pro-portion [i.e. the mean] of [emotions of] terror [and the like, byarousing these emotions through the representation. Tragedy,like epic, has as its end the catharsis of these emotions, whichgives rise to the pleasure proper to tragedy.] It has, [as onemight say, emotions of] pain as its mother. [As for how cathar-sis works in comedy, and how this differs from tragedy, I shallexplain below when we have looked at the nature of the laugh-able. But now let us discuss comedy, taking up the definition ofits essence that results from what has been said.]

Reconstruction of Poetics II 49

3. The nature of comedy

3.1 The definition of comedy

Comedy is a representation of an action that is laughable andlacking in magnitude, complete, [in embellished speech], witheach of its parts [used] separately in the [various] elements [ofthe play]; [represented] by people acting and [not] by means ofnarration; accomplishing by means of pleasure and laughter thecatharsis of such emotions. It has laughter, [so to speak,] as itsmother.

[I explained what each of these things means when tragedywas defined.]

3.2 The qualitative parts of comedy maybe deduced from the laughable

[Since the function of comic representation is to represent thelaughable, we must next consider from how many kinds]laughter has its structure, [i.e. how the pleasure that is particu-lar to comic representation arises.] Laughter arises from (a) dic-tion and (b) incidents.

3.2.1 The laughter of comedycomes from (a) diction

Laughter arises from diction in seven ways.(i) First, [it arises] from homonymy, [when the same name

has two or more meanings,] like "paying": [this means "de-fraying" and "profitable";] e.g. "metre", [which Aristophanespuns on in the Clouds.]

(ii) Second, from synonymy, when two or more names havethe same meaning, like "cloak", "wrap" and "mantle"; e.g."I'm here and am arrived", which is the same thing, [as Aris-tophanes jokes in the Frogs.]

(iii) Third, from verbosity, when someone [twice] uses thesame name [with the same meaning].

(iv) Fourth, from paronymy, [when the standard name is inpart the same and in part altered.] Paronyms are divided intothose (a) by addition, when something extraneous is attachedto the standard [name, e.g. "infamonous" instead of "infa-

50 Poetics

mous"]; and (b) by shortening, [when something is removedfrom the standard name,] e.g. "I'm called Midas the joke" [in-stead of "joker". Also] (c) from a diminutive, [when the stan-dard name is lengthened or curtailed to trivialise somethingand make it laughable,] e.g. "Socratiddles, Euripidipides" [for"Socrates" and "Euripides" in Aristophanes. Again,] (d) froman alteration, [when the standard name is in part left un-changed and in part made up, e.g.] "the worstest of all" [in-stead of "the worst"].

[(v) Again, laughter arises from parody, when one name ispronounced instead of another,] e.g. "O Clod Almighty" in-stead of "O God".

[(vi) Again, from metaphor. By "metaphor" I mean, as wesaid, the transference of names from things similar] either insound or [in appearance or potential or some other perceptiblequality, especially if ugly but not painful or destructive; oneshould not transfer a name from something too dissimilar, butuse] something of the same genus [or similar by analogy, other-wise it will be a riddle but not a metaphor.]

(vii) Seventh, from the form of the diction. [By this I meane.g. what is a command, or what is a wish; this belongs to theart of delivery.]

[These then are the seven kinds of the laughable that arisefrom diction, and it necessarily follows that diction is an ele-ment of comic representation.]

3.2.2 The laughter of comedy comesfrom (b) the incidents

Laughter [also arises] from the incidents [on the stage,] in twoways. [As I said in the Rhetoric, a major cause of amusement ismaking something like something else, and the accompanyingdeception of expectations. Obviously this can happen in theincidents.]

(i) [Laughter arises] first from deception, e.g. Strepsiades be-lieving that the story about the flea was true [in Aristophanes'Clouds,] and (ii) secondly from making [something] like [some-thing else]. Making something like something else is dividedinto two in its use: (a) making something like something better[than it is], e.g. [the slave] Xanthias [disguised as the hero] Her-acles [in Aristophanes' Frogs,] or (b) making it like something

Reconstruction of Poetics II 51

worse, e.g. [the god] Dionysus [disguised as the slave] Xanthias[in the same play].

[Other kinds of the laughable are errors in serious poetry,which can be used inappropriately on purpose to arouse laugh-ter, as we said. Laughter arises] (iii) from the impossible, [or](iv) from the possible and inconsequential, [i.e. the improbable;these are effective if they accomplish the function of the repre-sentation, i.e. the arousal of laughter; otherwise they are errorseven in comedy. It also arises] (v) from things contrary to ex-pectation. [From this it will be clear that the representation ofthe action or structure of the incidents is also useful for arous-ing laughter, and it necessarily follows that this is an element ofcomic representation.]

[Laughter also arises] (vi) from making the characters inclineto be wicked [without this being necessary or probable; this isof course an error in tragedy. Comedy represents persons whoare inferior to us, as we said, but not in every kind of wicked-ness. What sort of people they are may be revealed] (vii) bytheir use of vulgar dancing [like the cordax, or] (viii) [by baddecision, e.g.] when someone who has the power [to decide]lets go the most important things and takes those most inferior.[Hence character too is a part of comic representation; but soalso is reasoning, since actions are caused by the reasoning aswell as the characters of the people acting. Therefore laughtercan also arise] (ix) [from reasoning,] when the argument [for anaction] is disjointed and lacking any sequence. [These, then, arethe kinds of the laughable arising from the incidents.]

[For this reason the elements of all comic representation arenecessarily four, diction, plot, character and reasoning. Com-edy is superior to lampoon in this, since it has song and specta-cle also.]

3.3 The function of personal abusein comedy and lampoon

[Again, comedy and abuse in verse, i.e. lampoon, differ in therepresentation of people. As we said in the Rhetoric, the ele-ments of the laughable are people, words and deeds.] Comedyis superior to abuse, since abuse details without concealmentthe bad [qualities and actions] attaching to people, but comedy

52 Poetics Reconstruction of Poetics II 53

requires the so-called innuendo. [Whereas abuse representshow actual people like Alcibiades do behave, comedy, in its es-sential nature to which it has attained, aims to represent howpeople may behave in general; this is why, as we said, comicpoets now use made-up names for their characters, and do notabuse real people as the writers of lampoons do.]

[Even so, there is a place for jokes in comedy, since viceshould be reproached, and a joke is a concealed reproach of anerror. In both comedy and lampoon,] the joker wishes to ex-pose errors of soul and body [in his victims, and this arouseslaughter, provided that the error is not painful or destructive tothe victim or others.]

3.4 The function of tragedy and comedy compared

[Now that we have considered the laughable and its parts, weshould explain what we stated above about the function of com-edy, i.e. the catharsis of pleasure and laughter. Just as the func-tion of tragedy is to arouse pity and terror through therepresentation of pitiable and terrifying actions, which comeabout through an error that is painful or destructive in someway, so too the function of comedy is to arouse pleasure andlaughter through the representation of laughable actions, whichalso come about through an error, though not a painful or de-structive one. Each kind of poetry aims to purify that part of thesoul concerned with these emotions. By seeing a representationof terrifying things happening to others, one will learn to feelterror in the right way, for the right reason, to the right extentand so on; this will be accomplished by the catharsis of theemotion of terror.]

[This applies not to the painful emotions only, but to thepleasant ones as well. Just as] in tragedies [the poet] aims toproduce a due proportion of terror [in the souls of the specta-tors, so too] in comedies there is to be a due proportion of thelaughable. [So much for the function of tragedy and comedy.]

4. The parts of comedy

4.1 The qualitative parts of comedy,and how they should be used

The elements of comedy are, [as we have shown, six:] plot,character, reasoning, diction, song and spectacle. [These are thesame as the elements of tragedy, and, as in tragedy, two ofthem refer to the media of the representation (i.e. diction andsong), one to the manner (i.e. spectacle), and three to the objectof the representation (i.e. plot, character and reasoning). Thereare no others except these.]

4.1.1 Plot in comedy

Comic plot is one which is structured around laughable actions.[We have said of what sort these are. The action should bestructured in accordance with probability, unless the comedyachieves its aim better by using impossibilities and improbabili-ties, as we have seen.]

4.1.2 Character in comedy

[Comedy represents characters who are inferior to ourselves,i.e. worse than we are: therefore comic characters are thosewho are somehow in error in soul or body. Typical] charactersof comedy are the buffoonish, the ironical, and the boasters.[Each of these diverges from the mean, and therefore deservesnot praise but reproach. As we said in the Ethics, the buffoonerrs in humour, as he will make any joke, even against himself,to please another, but an ironical person jokes to please him-self. This is why we say that buffoonery is more suited to aslave and less to a free citizen than is irony. But even the ironi-cal man errs, just as does the boaster in the opposite way; thefirst understates the truth, the second overstates it. Both, then,are liars, but the boaster seems more worthy of blame. But, aswe said, not every kind of bad character is appropriate, butonly those that are not painful or destructive.]

4.1.3 Reasoning in comedyThe parts of reasoning are two, [as we said, namely] generalstatement and proof. [These are explained in the Rhetoric. In

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particular the comic poet should use the proofs that do not de-pend on art:] there are five [of these]—oaths, agreements, testi-monies, ordeals and laws.

4.1.4 Diction in comedy

[We have already discussed diction and its parts, and howlaughter arises from it.] Comic diction is common and popular.[Therefore it uses standard names and metaphors more thanexotic names, since it is closer to everyday speech than is trag-edy. In tragedy the characters all speak in the same way, but incomedy the diction should be appropriate.] The comic poetshould assign his characters their own ancestral dialect, andhimself the local one. [Thus the Boeotian in Aristophanes'Acharnians uses his own dialect, but the poet in the parabasisuses the local Attic dialect.]

4.1.5 Song and spectacle in drama[The last two elements of comedy are shared with tragedy butnot with epic, and as we passed over them before we will men-tion them now.] Song, [i.e. speech, rhythm and melody,] isparticular to [the art of] music [and not to that of poetry.] Hence[the poet] will need to take his starting-points complete inthemselves from that [art.] Spectacle [belongs still less to the artof poetry, but is enthralling. It] supplies, as a great benefit todramas, [both tragic and comic, the masks, scenery andcostumes.]

4.1.6 The qualitative parts of comedyare not equally important

[Of these elements,] plot, diction and song are observed in allcomedies, but reasonings, character and spectacle in [not] afew. [If there is no plot, there is no representation of an action,but an action can be represented without including the charac-ter and reasonings of those acting. Spectacle is least particularto the art of poetry, as the nature of a comedy can be apparenteven when it is read. But a comedy could not exist without themeans of representation, since each comedy consists of spokenverses and choral song in its separate parts. Preferably oneshould try to have all the elements; otherwise, as many as pos-

sible of them. So much for the parts of comedy that one shoulduse as elements.]

4.2 The quantitative parts of comedy

The [quantitative] parts of comedy, [i.e. the separate parts intowhich it is divided,] are four: (a) prologue, (b) choral [part], (c)episode and (d) exit.

(a) A prologue is a [whole] part of a comedy that is up to theentry of the chorus.

(b) A choral [part] is the song sung by the chorus, when it hassufficient magnitude.

(c) An episode is the [whole] part [of a comedy] that is be-tween two [whole] choral songs.

(d) An exit is a [whole] part [of a comedy] uttered at the endby the chorus.

[These, then, are the quantitative parts of comedy, i.e. theseparate parts into which it is divided.]

5. The three kinds of comedy compared

[Comedy is superior to lampoon, as we stated. But comedy didnot at once relinquish the form of the lampoon, but developedlittle by little to attain its nature.] The old comedy goes to excessin the laughable [as does the buffoon, since he desires to pleaseeverybody, including vulgar people.] The new comedy aban-dons this, and inclines towards the grand [or serious; but thereshould be jokes and laughter in comedy. Therefore] the comedyintermediate [between these is left,] which is mixed from both,[e.g. the comedies of Aristophanes. This kind is the best.]

[Regarding comedy and lampoon, then, and indeed poetry asa whole, in themselves, their kinds and their parts, as to howmany there are and how they differ, and what are the causes ofdoing well or not in them, let this account suffice.]

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