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ARISTOTLESPOETICSMANN RENTOY

Born in 384 BCDied 322 BC.

Aristotle entered the Academy but left when Plato died

MENTOR of Alexander the Great

School in Athens, the Lyceaum, was founded in 335 BC.

Responsible for the first systematic work of literary criticism.

Aristotle (c. 384-322 B.C.E. )Founder of literary criticism

Dante called him the master of those who know

Plato referred to Aristotle as the mind

physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government

Aristotles The Poetics

Introductory remarks on poetry and its classification.Tragedy.Poetic diction.Narrative poetry and Tragedy .Epic is compared with Tragedy.Objections are answered.

6 Parts of Poetics

Twenty-six chapters.

a kind of covert reply to his great master.

a systematic exposition of the theory and practice of poetry.

a response to Plato's attack on art

Differences between Aristotle and PlatoPlato considered imitation merely as mimicry or a servile copy of nature.Plato compared poetry to painting.Aristotle interpreted it as a creative process.Aristotle compared it to music.

Differences between Aristotle and PlatoPoetry presents a copy of nature as it is. Poetry is twice removed from reality and its a shadow of shadows.

Plato takes up the cudgel on behalf of philosophy and shows that philosophy is superior to poetry.

Poetry may imitate men as they are, or better and worse. Poetry gives us idealized version of reality.

He takes up the cudgels on behalf of poetry and effectively brings out its superiority.

Overall Summary of Poetics

He defines poetry

as a means of mimesis, or imitation

by means of language, rhythm, and harmony

TRAGEDY

Dionysus, Thousands, Thirty-Three

Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

Tragedy serves to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and to effect a katharsis (catharsis) of these emotions

six different parts of TRAGEDY: (1) mythos, or plot, (2) character, (3) thought, (4) diction, (5) melody, and (6) spectacle.

first essential to creating a good tragedy is that it should maintain unity of plot

The plot can also be enhanced by an intelligent use of peripeteia, or reversal, and anagnorisis, or recognition

The misery should be the result of some hamartia, or error, on the part of the hero.

Aristotle discusses thought and diction and then moves on to address epic poetry

After addressing some problems of criticism, Aristotle argues that tragedy is superior to epic poetry.

IMPORTANT TERMS of Aristotle

Hamartia - the word translates almost directly as "error," though it is often rendered more elaborately as "tragic flaw."

Tragedy involves the downfall of a hero, effected by some error. This error could be a simple matter of not knowing something or forgetting something.

Anagnorisis - "recognition" or "discovery."

That moment when the hero, or some other character, passes from ignorance to knowledge. This could be a recognition of a long lost friend or family member, or it could be a sudden recognition of some fact about oneself

Mythos - usually translated as "plot," but unlike "plot," mythos can be applied to all works of art.

Not so much a matter of what happens and in what order, mythos deals with how the elements of a tragedy (or a painting, sculpture, etc.) come together to form a coherent and unified whole.

The overall message or impression that we come away with is what is conveyed to us by the mythos of a piece.

Katharsis - This word was normally used in ancient Greece by doctors to mean "purgation" or by priests to mean "purification."

In tragedy, Aristotle uses it to talk about a purgation or purification of emotions.

Presumably, this means that katharsis is a release of built up emotional energy, much like a good cry.

Peripeteia - A reversal, either from good to bad or bad to good. Peripeteia often occurs at the climax of a story, often prompted by anagnorisis.

- the climax of a story: the turning point in the action, where things begin to move toward a conclusion.

Lusis - Literally "untying," the lusis is all the action in a tragedy from the climax onward. All the plot threads that have been woven together in the desis are slowly unraveled until the conclusion.

Desis - Literally "tying," the desis is all the action in a tragedy leading up to the climax.

- threads craftily woven together to form a more and more complex mess.

Aristotles The Poetics

scientific study of the constituent parts of poetry and drawing conclusions from those observations

He lists the different kinds of poetry: epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and most flute-playing and lyre-playing

Next, he classifies all of these kinds of poetry as mimetic, or imitative, but that there are significant differences between them.

Mimesis the act of creating in someone's mind, through artistic representation, an idea or ideas that the person will associate with past experience. Roughly translatable as "imitation,

How can we differentiate the tragedy from other poetic forms?

first kind of distinction is the means or medium they employ. Just as a painter employs paint and a sculptor employs stone, the poet employs language, rhythm, and harmony, either singly or in combinations.

The second distinction is the objects that are imitated. All poetry represents actions with agents who are either better than us, worse than us, or quite like us.

tragedy and epic poetry: characters are better than us

comedy and parody: characters are worse than us.

The third distinction is with the manner of representation: the poet either speaks directly in narrative or assumes the characters of people in the narrative and speaks through them.

Objects, Manner, and Medium of Imitation in Tragedy

We are by nature imitative creatures that learn and excel by imitating others, and we naturally take delight in works of imitation. Evidence: fascinated by representations of dead bodies or disgusting animals even though the things themselves would repel us.

* we learn by examining representations and imitations of things

* learning is one of the greatest pleasures there is

* Rhythm and harmony also come naturally to us, so that poetry gradually evolved out of our improvisations with these media.

Tragedy and comedy are later developments that are the grandest representation of their respective traditions: ** tragedy of the lofty tradition

** comedy of the mean tradition

Four innovations in the development from improvised dithyrambs toward the tragedies of his day.

Dithyrambs were sung in honor of Dionysus, god of wine, by a chorus of around fifty men and boys, often accompanied by a narrator.

1st Innovation: Aeschylus reduced the number of the chorus and introduced a second actor on stage, which made dialogue the central focus of the poem

2nd Innovation:Sophocles added a third actor and also introduced background scenery.

3rd Innovation:Tragedy developed an air of seriousness, and the meter changed from a trochaic rhythm, which is more suitable for dancing, to an iambic rhythm, which is closer to the natural rhythms of conversational speech.

4th Innovation:Tragedy developed a plurality of episodes, or acts.

tragedy and epic poetry: characters are better than us

comedy and parody: characters are worse than us.

comedy deals with the ridiculous which he defines as a kind of ugliness that does no harm to anybody else.

very sketchy account of the origins of comedy, because it was not generally treated with the same respect as tragedy and so there are fewer records of the innovations that led to its present form.

Tragedy and epic poetry deal with lofty subjects in a grand style of verse

Three significant differences:

First, tragedy is told in a dramatic, rather than narrative, form, and employs several different kinds of verse while epic poetry employs only one.

Second, the action of a tragedy is usually confined to a single day, and so the tragedy itself is usually much shorter than an epic poem.

Third, while tragedy has all the elements that are characteristic of epic poetry, it also has some additional elements that are unique to it alone.

Aristotle now narrows his focus to examine tragedy exclusively. In order to do so, he provides a definition of tragedy that we can break up into seven parts

(1) it involves mimesis; (2) it is serious; (3) the action is complete and with magnitude; (4) it is made up of language with the "pleasurable accessories" of rhythm and harmony;

(5) these "pleasurable accessories" are not used uniformly throughout, but are introduced in separate parts of the work, so that, for instance, some bits are spoken in verse and other bits are sung;

(6) it is performed rather than narrated; and (7) it arouses the emotions of pity and fear and accomplishes a katharsis (purification or purgation) of these emotions.

Definition of Tragedy Tragedy is an imitation of an action,Serious, complete and of a certain magnitude in a language beautified in different parts with different kinds of embellishment, through action and not narration, and through scenes of pity and fear bringing about the Catharsis of these emotions

Action must be complete

Completeness:-

Unity of Action:(Probability and Necessity)

Aristotle emphasizes Unity of Action ; he is against plurality of action as it weakens the final effect of Tragedy.

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Imitation of an action, serious, complete and of a certain magnitude.

It must be long enough to permit an orderly development of action to a catastrophe. Too short an action cannot be regarded as proper and beautiful, for its different parts will not be clearly visible, as in the case of a very small living creature.It must be an organic whole.

And another important word is embellishment:-

Aristotle means verse and song.Verse and song beautify and decorate and give pleasure, but Aristotle does not regard them as essential or indispensable for the success of a tragedy.

Diction and StyleDiction is the choice and arrangement of words and images in a literary composition.

Six types of words Current or ordinary words Foreign terms borrowed or dialects Metaphors Ornamental periphrasis Invented words Not invented, but made new lengthening or shortening

Songs is the pleasurable addition to a play. In a tragedy, song is provided by the Chorus. The quantitative sections of tragedy are ;PrologueChoric song EpisodeExode

SONGS OR MELODY

About Catharsis:-

#In the Poetics, while defining tragedy, Aristotle writes that the function of tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear, and in this way to affect the Katharsis of these emotion. #Further the Greek word Katharsis has three meanings:-PurgationpurificationclarificationAll agree that Tragedy arouses fear and pity, but there are sharp differences as to the process, the way, by which the rousing of these emotions gives pleasure.

Having examined the definition, nature and function of Tragedy, Aristotle comes to its formative parts.Six formative elements of a tragedyPlot Character Diction Thought Spectacle Song

Two kinds of Plots: simple and complexSimple:Plot is simple when the change in the fortunes of the hero takes place without peripety and discovery.Complex:The plot is complex when it involves one or the other or both. The Peripety is the change in the fortunes of the hero and the Discovery is a change from ignorance to knowledge.Aristotle prefers complex plot, for it startles and captures attention.

Complex plots are those which have Peripety and Anagnorisis or Discovery or RecognitionPeripeteia :Peripeteia means that human actions produce results exactly opposite to what was intended: it is working in blindness to ones own defeat.It is a false step taken in the dark.(e.g., Macbeth) Anagnorisis:Anagnorisis or recognition is the realization of truth, the opening of the eyes, the sudden lightning-flash in the darkness.

Characterization:-A man who is not eminently good and just yet whose misfortune is not brought by vice or depravity but by some error of frailty.

Further Traits of Characters:-

The Ideal Tragic Hero:-Suffering, not because of some deliberate villainy but because of some error of judgment.

HamartiaIgnoranceHasty or careless viewDecision taken voluntarilyOedipusOthelloHamlet

It may be accompanied by normal imperfection, but it is not itself a moral imperfection, and in the purest tragic situation the suffering hero is not morally to blame.

The Dramatic Unities Unity of Time

#Comparing the Epic and the Tragedy:-Tragedy tries as far as possible, to live within a single revolution of the sun, or only slightly to exceed it, whereas the epic observes no limits in its time of action.About the Unity of Time he merely says in the Poetics that tragedy should confine itself, as far as possible, to a single revolution of the sun.

Unity of Place

Aristotle only mentions when comparing the epic and the tragedy, that the epic can narrate a number of actions going on simultaneously in different parts, while in drama such simultaneous actions cannot be represented, for the stage is one part and not several parts, or places.

Unity of ActionTight plot not episodic; events have the logical connectedness

Unity of plot in epic.Contrast between epic and tragedy.Superiority of tragedy over epic.Tragedy is possible without character but not without plot.Epic is of four types : simple and complex, epic of character, epic of suffering.Tragedy is of four types : The complex tragedy, the tragedy of suffering, the tragedy of character, the tragedy of spectacle.EPIC AND TRAGEDY

Types of Tragedy Complex tragedy It consists of reversal and recognition of truth.Tragedy of suffering Tragedy depicts suffering.Tragedy of character Character more involved than plot.Tragedy of spectacle It depends upon the sensational effects produced by the actors, the costume designers and other mechanical and artificial devices.

Types of RecognitionAnagnorisis (discovery or recognition of truth)

Signs or objects, symbolsAuthor tells himselfDiscovery from memoryProcess of reasoningDiscovery arising from the false reasoning

Superiority of Tragedy over EpicIt has all the elements of an epic and has also spectacle and song which the epic lacks. Unity of action only in a tragedy not in an epic.Simply reading the play without performing it is already very potent.Tragedy is shorter that is more compact concentrated effect.