Authenticity disputed v t e aristotles poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. Choice anyone interested in the first great work of literary theory will find the lost second book of aristotles poetics accessible as well as valuable. Aristotle does not, however, decide on whether tragedy and by. Aristotle on mimesis and form silvia carli in chapter 9 of the poetics, aristotle famously writes that poetry is more philosophical and more serious than history.
In book i he argues vigorously for a political theory based on nature. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Seth benardete was until his death in 2001 professor of classics at new york university. This volume contains a close translation of these two books, together with a philosophical commentary. His poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written and is a founding text of european aesthetics and literary criticism. It discusses things like unity of plot, reversal of situation, and character in the context of greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry. While we might expect a discussion of the objects of poetic representation to include natural phenomena. Nov 06, 2012 platos utopian republic and aristotles politics the subject of this weeks seminar reading was the works of plato and aristotle, the former being a teacher of the latter.
In the poetics, aristotle is primarily concerned with analysis of. What is the main ideas of aristotles literary criticism as presented in his book poetics. A founding text of european aesthetics and literary criticism, it has shaped much of our modern understanding of the creation and impact of imaginative writing, including poetry, drama, and fiction. Poets, he claims, appeal to the basest part of the soul by imitating unjust inclinations. The poetics is much better known than the rhetoric, though only the first book of the former, a treatment of epic and tragic poetry, survives. I gave these works of aristotle a four star rating based entirely on the politics book and not the poetics book. For some 20 years aristotle was platos student and colleague at the academy in athens, an institution for philosophical, scientific, and mathematical research and. How relevant is aristotles poetics to modern thinking. His many books include the argument of the action, published by the university of chicago press. But he does not actually address any of those ideas. The poetics of aristotle, its meaning and influence by. Poetics by aristotle classical wisdom weekly part 12.
The objects of imitation in the opening lines of this brief chapter aristotle makes the somewhat startling suggestion that all poetry is the representation of the actions of human beings. The poetics of aristotle ness being the distinguishing marks of moral differences, it follows that we must represent men either as better than in real life, or as worse, or as they are. Aristotles poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical. They are similar in the fact that they are all imitations but different in the three ways that aristotle describes. This study guide consists of approximately 21 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of poetics. Aristotle, in turn, gives little credence to either the gods of the poets or the. In it, he sketches the basic political structure and laws of an ideal city named magnesia. Aristotle gives his views on tragedy, the plot, the characters and the content, and then it is compared to epic poetry. In this chapter, he repeats part of his definition of tragedy, that it is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude 52, and goes on to define exactly what he means by whole. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position.
Book ii treats the objects of imitation and book iii discusses the mode of imitation. Jul 23, 2015 aristotle is the great disciple of plato. This is a very important claim, about which its unclear that aristotle recognizes its radicality. Content wise, i think this book is great, but it was just so very boring. The poetics is in part aristotles response to his teacher, plato, who argues in the. Aristotle certainly knew the passage, and it looks as if his treatise on poetry was an answer to platos challenge. An insightful howto guide for writing screenplays that uses aristotle s great work as a guide.
In the tenth book of the republic, when plato has completed his final burning denunciation of poetry, the false siren, the imitator of things which themselves are shadows, the ally of all that is low and weak in the soul against that which is high and strong, who makes us feed the things we ought to starve and serve the. Aristotle s poetics is one of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in western literary history. The remainder of book i is devoted to a discussion of the different media of imitation. A penetrating, nearcontemporary account of greek tragedy, it demonstrates how the elements of plot, character and spectacle combine to produce pity and fear and why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. The poetics is a systematic exposition of the theory and practice of poetry. Aristotle, poetics, section 1456b tufts university. Poetics by aristotle classical wisdom weekly part 2.
Poetics by aristotle, part of the internet classics archive. The action, proceeding in the way defined, as one continuous whole, i call simple, when the change in the heros fortunes takes place without peripety or discovery. The medium of imitation the three basic media which aristotle recognizes are rhythm, language, and harmony. Reserving hexameter poetry and comedy for consideration hereafter, let us proceed now to the discussion of tragedy. The parts of tragedy which must be treated as elements of the whole have been already mentioned. The types of works that aristotle discusses include works of drama especially tragedy and lyrical and epic poetry. Buy poetics penguin classics book online at low prices in. Unfortunately, it is one of only thirty one surviving treatises by aristotle of over two hundred he wrote.
The precision with which aristotle conducts his analysis of tragic drama is at times almost amusing. Based on richard jankos philological reconstruction of the epitome, a summary first recovered in 1839 and. From time to time human society has been in the habit of throwing up a manysided. It is only less difficult to write a popular book about the poetics ofaristotle than to write one about the elements ofeuclid. Polygnotus depicted men as nobler than they are, pauson as less noble, dionysius drew them true to life. According to the theory of forms, material objects read more. Do the stronger elements of society scare the weak into submission in the name of. The internet classics archive poetics by aristotle. Plots are either simple or complex, since the actions they represent are naturally of this twofold description. This book should appeal to aristotle scholars and to those interested in aesthetics more generally.
Poetry was not only pleasant, but also useful for man and society. Yet i trust the following pages give an intelligible account of what aristotle tried to say in his book on poetry, and. Aristotles politics is a key document in western political thought. Part i i propose to treat of poetry in itself and of its various kinds, notin. Platos utopian republic and aristotles politics the subject of this weeks seminar reading was the works of plato and aristotle, the former being a teacher of the latter. Theres no introduction to the book, just a note about when it was written circa 330bc and about aristotle himself, taking up less than a page. More began his writing with the section ultimately published as book ii of the utopia while serving as an ambassador in antwerp in 1515. The poetics of aristotle, its meaning and influence by lane. If human children are by nature imitative, then there is. Aristotle poetics the classic on drama theory explained. Aristotle s poetics although there are literally countless stories, and have been for as far back as we are able to see, we still lack any generally accepted list of rules for how they are and should be made up. Plato on utopia stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Whatever its didactic value, the contrast has not seemed to readers of special philosophical interest. Although aristotles ideal regime discussed in books seven and eight.
Okay, so poetics may have been written way back in the days of ancient greece, but its a lot easier to read that youd imagine, and youll be surprised how relevant it still is today. Platos utopian republic and aristotles politics ben webb. Quite a few comments have been posted about poetics. Politics and poetics by aristotle goodreads share book. Of the choric part the parode is the first undivided utterance of the chorus. Michael davis is professor of philosophy at sarah lawrence college.
Along with plato, aristotle 384322 bc was one of the two greatest philosophers of antiquity, and in the view of many he was the greatest philosopher of all time. Im glad that i have finally read aristotle s poetics because it is an important essay on writing and performing actually its one of the earliest works on literary theory, creative writing and theatre which shouldnt be read only by actors and those who study literature, but by anyone who considers oneself to be an artist. It has a decent preface, but the translation was crabbed and stilted. The poetics purports to be systematic analysis of the various types of poetry. This complete text of the the poetics book by aristotle, translated by ingram bywater, with a preface by gilbert murray, is in the public domain. Even if history were cast into the same kind of meter as is used in tragedy, aristotle argues, it would only be history in verse. Poetics has been divided into the following sections. Im glad that i have finally read aristotle s poetics because it is an important essay on writing and performing actually its one of the earliest works on literary theory, creative writing and theatre which shouldnt be read only by actors and those who study literature.
As the shortest book ive got on my literature student bookshelf, this dover thrift edition poetics is the cheapest, and most flimsy, but completely worthwhile book. How should we decide who is to hold office and exercise power. In book viii of the politics, aristotle speaks of the educative value of visual. Few of the great works of ancient greek literature are easy reading. Malcolm heaths introduction fills almost half the book but he truly captures the essence of poetics. Sure, its 2400 years old, but aristotles discussionsunity of plot, reversal of the situation, characterthough written in the context of ancient greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry, still apply to our modern literary forms. Greek was very much a live language, and a language still unconscious of grammar, not, like ours, dominated by definitions and trained upon dictionaries. The book aims, among other things, to answer platos criticisms of representative art. Butcher in poetics by aristotle, we see the author dissect the various elements of poetry, from why we like it to what a tragedy needs to be any good.
In book ii he launches a sharp attack on platos two utopias, the republic and the laws, and also criticizes three historical states reputed to be well governed. There are certain emotions, aristotle says, that are in all people, and that are harmful to thememotions that are. Read by robert foster aristotle s poetics from the 4th century b. At some point, aristotles original work was divided in two, each book written on a separate roll of papyrus. It is especially popular with screenwriters as seen in many script gurus howto books. Dec 17, 2014 here is a little video i made as a final project for my theatre history class while this video is by no means a replacement for actually reading poetics, i hope it helps to simplify it since i. They nearly all need study and comment, and at times help from a good teacher, before they yield up their secret. Now michael tierno shows how this great work can be an invaluable resource to screenwriters or anyone interested in studying plot. Aristotle writes also that he will address catharsis and an analysis of what is funny.
Part of the discussion of poetry in book 2 deals with its content. The book is divided into short, fragmented sections that deals with every aspect of drama, poetry and epic. The original, aristotles short study of storytelling, written in the fourth century b. Twice in the poetics, aristotle contrasts poetry with history. One of the first things aristotle tries to do in t he poetics is to define the characteristics which are common to painting, drama, poetry, music, etc that is, to define art.
In poetics, aristotle defines and outlines tragedy for theatre in a way that displays his genius, but raises questions and creates controversy. Then i read the art of poetry by ingram bywater a free translation of aristotles poetics. Aristotles poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. According to daugherty and kammeyer, both plato and aristotle were little. So unpoetic a soul as aristotles has no business speaking about such a topic, much less telling poets how to go about their business. But above all, it is the concept of the city, at the same time an ideal utopian model. In it, aristotle offers an account of what he calls. How relevant is aristotles poetics to modern thinking about. Both had a huge amount of influence to todays politics around the world thinking about how societies and communities should work.
Sep 11, 20 aristotle s poetics is the earliestsurviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. Poetry and history since life is not a plot, it is not sufficient for a poet simply to record events as they happen. Aristotle tells us that the laws is later than the republic, pol. Aristotle has clearly spelled out a huge assumption we make when we watch a movie or enjoy any artwork. In it, aristotle offers an account of what he calls poetry a term that derives from a classical greek term. This may suffice as to the number and nature of the various modes of imitation. I was introduced to it in a graduate course in ancient greek literature and have used it many times in a sophomorelevel class on writing narratives for film and television. Aristotle, poetics, section 1453a tufts university. In recent years, however, more scholarly attention has been paid to the laws.
Long forgotten by commentators, it nevertheless had a great influence, since aristotles poetics has given birth to three concepts crucial for psychology, social sciences, and philosophy of art. Both had a huge amount of influence to todays politics around the world. Id like to emphasize only one thing about the relevance of aristotle s poetics. Such a structure might satisfy our feelings but it arouses neither pity nor fear, the one being for the man who does not deserve his misfortune and the other for the man who is like ourselvespity for the undeserved misfortune, fear for the man like ourselvesso that the result will arouse neither. It has been a standard book for literary criticism since centuries. It is also the victim of a serious and widespread misconception, in that it is held to present a political utopia, a polis city state. Long considered the bible for storytellers, aristotle s poetics is a fixture of college courses on everything from fiction writing to dramatic theory. So the doctors art is master to that of the dispenser, and the art of riding to that of the maker of. In it, aristotle offers an account of what he calls poetry. A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, and also as having magnitude, complete in itself in language with pleasurable accessories. Poetics is the earliest known work of literary criticism.
Yet i trust the following pages give an intelligible account of what aristotle tried to say in his book on poetry, and how writers in various ages have reacted to his thoughts. Aristotles work on aesthetics consists of the poetics, politics bk viii and rhetoric. What is poetry, how many kinds of it are there, and what are their specific effects. The good that poets doespecially dramatists, and among them especially the writer of tragediesis the main subject of the poetics. A utopia for the individual alfred geier says its not about the state of the state the republic is platos most famous dialogue, contains many of his bestknown arguments and is one of the great classics of world literature. Despite the fact that the laws treats a number of basic issues in political and ethical philosophy as well as theology, it has suffered neglect compared with the republic. Though more harshly criticized the wrongs of european society in book one of utopia, he idealistically presented a radical view of a new society in book two to. These are the opening words of aristotles poetics, generally recognized. In modern democratic societies the answer to this question is simple. Plato also may be envisioned as a utopian socialist philosopher, a moral entrepreneur.
The poetics of aristotle 335 bce is the earliest surviving treatise of dramatic theory and the first philosophy of literary theory from the west that influenced centuries of philosophers ever since. Aristotles poetics for the overwhelmed theatre student youtube. In books ii, iii, and iv, plato identifies political justice as harmony in a. Aristotles theory of deviance and contemporary symbolic. Here aristotle will give us a last clue to the puzzle, as he will emphasize the imitative nature of human children. From the poetics by aristotle devoted to literary criticism, only the first part mainly dedicated to the tragedy was received. Feb 08, 2020 the good that poets doespecially dramatists, and among them especially the writer of tragediesis the main subject of the poetics. Even antiaristotelians will appreciate the book, if only in finding new. The poetics is much better known than the rhetoric, though only the first book of. Aristotle s poetics the drama theory and influence of the poetics. In these first two books aristotle shows his complete mastery of political theory and practice, and raises many crucial issues still with us today. The poetics is probably quite useful to a person interested in writing any type of literature or work of drama for stage or screen but my knowledge of something like that is extremely limited at best. Aristotles poetics influence on the ancient world bartleby. But for aristotle this is far from being the right method.
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