Aristotle's
Poetics Summary
Aristotle's Poetics seeks to address the
different kinds of poetry, the structure of a good poem, and the division of a
poem into its component parts. He defines poetry as a 'medium of imitation'
that seeks to represent or duplicate life through character, emotion, or
action. Aristotle defines poetry very broadly, including epic poetry, tragedy,
comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and even some kinds of music.
According to Aristotle, tragedy came
from the efforts of poets to present men as 'nobler,' or 'better' than they are
in real life. Comedy, on the other hand, shows a 'lower type' of person, and
reveals humans to be worse than they are in average. Epic poetry, on the other
hand, imitates 'noble' men like tragedy, but only has one type of meter -
unlike tragedy, which can have several - and is narrative in form.
Aristotle lays out six elements of
tragedy: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. Plot is 'the
soul' of tragedy, because action is paramount to the significance of a drama,
and all other elements are subsidiary. A plot must have a beginning, middle,
and end; it must also be universal in significance, have a determinate
structure, and maintain a unity of theme and purpose.
Plot also must contain elements of
astonishment, reversal (peripeteia), recognition, and suffering. Reversal is an
ironic twist or change by which the main action of the story comes full-circle.
Recognition, meanwhile, is the change from ignorance to knowledge, usually
involving people coming to understand one another's true identities. Suffering
is a destructive or painful action, which is often the result of a reversal or
recognition. All three elements coalesce to create "catharsis," which
is the engenderment of fear and pity in the audience: pity for the tragic
hero's plight, and fear that his fate might befall us.
When it comes to character, a poet
should aim for four things. First, the hero must be 'good,' and thus manifest
moral purpose in his speech. Second, the hero must have propriety, or 'manly
valor.' Thirdly, the hero must be 'true to life.' And finally, the hero must be
consistent.
Tragedy and Epic poetry fall into the
same categories: simple, complex (driven by reversal and recognition), ethical
(moral) or pathetic (passion). There are a few differences between tragedy and
epic, however. First, an epic poem does not use song or spectacle to achieve
its cathartic effect. Second, epics often cannot be presented at a single
sitting, whereas tragedies are usually able to be seen in a single viewing.
Finally, the 'heroic measure' of epic poetry is hexameter, where tragedy often
uses other forms of meter to achieve the rhythms of different characters'
speech.
Aristotle also lays out the elements
of successful imitation. The poet must imitate either things as they are,
things as they are thought to be, or things as they ought to be. The poet must
also imitate in action and language (preferably metaphors or contemporary
words). Errors come when the poet imitates incorrectly - and thus destroys the
essence of the poem - or when the poet accidentally makes an error (a factual
error, for instance). Aristotle does not believe that factual errors sabotage
the entire work; errors that limit or compromise the unity of a given work,
however, are much more consequential.
Aristotle concludes by tackling the
question of whether the epic or tragic form is 'higher.' Most critics of his
time argued that tragedy was for an inferior audience that required the gesture
of performers, while epic poetry was for a 'cultivated audience' which could
filter a narrative form through their own imaginations. In reply, Aristotle
notes that epic recitation can be marred by overdone gesticulation in the same
way as a tragedy; moreover, tragedy, like poetry, can produce its effect
without action - its power is in the mere reading. Aristotle argues that
tragedy is, in fact, superior to epic, because it has all the epic elements as
well as spectacle and music to provide an indulgent pleasure for the audience.
Tragedy, then, despite the arguments of other critics, is the higher art for
Aristotle.
Aristotle's Poetics Summary and
Analysis of Chapters 1-5
Summary
a. the different kinds of poetry and the 'essential quality' of
each
b. the structure necessary for a 'good poem'
c. the method in which a poem is divided into parts
d. anything else that might tangentially comes up in his address
of the above topics.
But before he begins tackling these topics, Aristotle first seeks
to define poetry. Poetry, as Aristotle defines it, is first and foremost a
'medium of imitation,' meaning a form of art that seeks to duplicate or
represent life. Poetry can imitate life in a number of ways, by representing
character, emotion, action, or even everyday objects.
Poetry, as Aristotle defines it, includes epic poetry, tragedy,
comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and music (specifically of flute, and lyre). What
differentiates these kinds of poetry is the nature of their 'imitation.' He
notes three differences.
1. Medium of Imitation
In general, poetry imitates life through rhythm, language, and
harmony. This is more pronounced in music or dance, but even verse poetry can
accomplish imitation through language alone
2. Object of Imitation
Art seeks to imitate men in action - hence the term 'drama'
(dramitas, in Greek). In order to imitate men, art must either present man as
'better' than they are in life (i.e. of higher morals), as true to life, or as
'worse' than they are in life (i.e. of lower morals).
Each author has his own tendencies - Homer 'makes men better than
they are,' Cleophon 'as they are', Nichochares 'worse than they are.' But more
important is a general distinction that Aristotle makes between forms of drama:
comedy represents men as worse then they are, tragedy as better than they are
in actual life.
3. Mode of Imitation
A poet can imitate either through:
a. narration, in which he takes another personality (an omniscient
'I' watching the events 'like an observer')
b. speak in his own person, unchanged (the first-person 'I')
c. presents all his characters as living and moving before us
(third-person narrator)
Continuing on from imitation, Aristotle turns to the anthropology
and history of poetry. As Aristotle sees it, poetry emerged for two reasons --
1) man's instinct to imitate things and 2) the instinct for 'harmony' and
rhythm.
Once poetry emerged, it evolved in two directions. One group of
poems imitated 'noble actions,' or the actions of good men. A second group of
poets imitated 'the actions of meaner persons' in the form of satire. The
former evolved into tragedy, the latter into epic poetry, then tragic drama.
Tragedy began
as improvisation and evolved over time, through the contribution of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and others
into its natural form of dramatic plot, dialogue, and iambic verse.
Comedy began as an imitation of characters 'of a lower type',
meaning a representation of a defect or ugliness in character, which is not
painful or destructive. Comedy was at first not taken seriously, but once plot
was introduced in Sicily comedic theater, it soon grew into a respected form.
Epic poetry, finally, imitates men of noble action, like tragedy.
But epic poetry only allows one kind of meter and is narrative in form.
Moreover, tragedy usually confines itself to a single day, whereas epic poetry
has no limits of time. Ultimately, all the elements of an epic poem are found
in tragedy, but not all the elements of tragedy are found in an epic poem.
Analysis
The Poetics begins
quickly and efficiently, unlike a number of Aristotle's other works. Instead of
laying out an argument for why the subjects merits such a discussion or an
overall thesis for his investigation, he immediately lays out an outline for
his work - types of poetry, structure, and division - and begins his systematic
analysis.
As one critic
notes, "The preliminaries are over in ten lines... Nothing is said about
the purpose of the discussion, what Aristotle hopes to accomplish by it; next
to nothing about method, or the views of others on poetry. But above all we
miss something that stands as preface to every major work of Aristotle's [best
work], namely some general statement by way of orientation..." (Else, 2).
In other words, Aristotle usually presents a 'notion of the forest,' before he
begins to look at the trees. But not in the Poetics.
The first
three chapters of the Poetics are action-packed - nearly every line
needs to be carefully dealt with, since Aristotle presents a myriad of
definitions, concepts, and categories. But the first major issue is to
understand involves the term 'Poetics' - what does Aristotle mean by it? Simply
put, 'poetry' to Aristotle is not the final product, but the art of
creating poetry. To understand this art, we must first grasp a number of
important concepts.
The first is
'imitation,' which is a word used often in the Poetics. 'Imitation,' as a concept, refers to an
artist's primary motivation to duplicate or capture life in some form.
Imitation, furthermore, is an innate instinct, says Aristotle, that is
'implanted in man from childhood.' We use imitation not only for entertainment,
but also for learning - by seeing the fortunes or misfortunes of another, they
can internalize experience through vicarious living.
Aristotle also uses imitation to differentiate between tragedy and
comedy. In the former, poets reveal men as better than they are - hence the tragic
'hero.' It is in this representation of man as 'better' or of 'higher morality'
that we ultimately find catharsis, the release at the end of a tragedy. In
comedy, however, a poet presents man as worse than he is - plagued by some
defect or ugliness which ultimately takes the reader into a satiric worldview.
Comedy ultimately works in a similar way to tragedy, but with opposite effect:
in a tragedy, we grieve over the fate of a man who must suffer for his flaw,
perhaps touched by the possibility that we too might possess this flaw. But in
a comedy, we laugh at the hero's flaw, comforted by the fact that it is not
ours.
Indeed, comedy and tragedy both have a moralizing effect on the
audience. This is less evident in comedy, perhaps, since "comedies tend to
be about bad behavior and people doing ugly, immoral, or ridiculous
things." The critic Goucher explains how Aristotle solves this problem:
"[Aristotle] accepted that the primary object of comedy as imitation:
imitation of low characters - not morally bad, but ludicrous, ugly but not
painful or destructive. He defended comedies' mimetic representation of
ludicrous behavior because it would incite audiences to avoid its
imitation" (Goucher 1).
Aristotle's definition of epic poetry may confuse the reader, so
it is worth illuminating precisely what he means. Epic poetry is like tragedy
in that it reveals man to be better than he is - but it is narrative in form,
depending either on an omniscient first-person narrator, a third-person
narrator, or a first-person narrating hero. A tragedy, meanwhile, involves the
dialogue of two or more characters. Additionally, tragedy and epic poetry
differ in length -- tragedy is confined usually to a single day, in the efforts
to reveal a quick devolution of the hero. Epic poetry, meanwhile, often
continues for a man's full lifetime. Ultimately it seems that tragedy grew from
epic poetry, so we find all the qualities of the latter in the former, but an
epic poem need not contain all the elements of a tragedy.
Aristotle's Poetics Summary and
Analysis of Chapters 6-9
Summary
Tragedy is an imitation of action with the following
characteristics: it is serious, complete, of significant magnitude, depicted
with rhythmic language and/or song, in the form of action (not narrative), and
produces a 'purgation' of pity and fear in the audience (also known as
catharsis).
Since tragedy
is the imitation of action, it is chiefly concerned with the lives of men, and
thus presents a stage for character and thought. Character - the qualities ascribed
to a certain man - and thought, according to Aristotle, are the two
causes from which actions spring. These elements also determine the success of
a given action. Plot, then, is arrangements of incidents (successes or
failures) that result from character and thought giving way to action.
With the above in mind, Aristotle lays out the six parts that
define a tragedy:
a. plot
b. character
c. diction (rhythmic language)
d. thought
e. spectacle
f. song
Plot is the most important part of a tragedy for a number of
reasons. First, the result of a man's actions determines his success or
failure, and hence his happiness, so it is action which is paramount - not
character, which doesn't necessarily affect every action. Second, without
action, there cannot be a tragedy - but there can be a tragedy without
character. Thirdly, diction, song, and thought - even elegantly combined -
cannot replicate the action of life without plot.
Plot, then, is the 'soul of a tragedy,' and character comes
second. Rounding out his rankings: thought, meaning what a character says in a
given circumstance, followed by diction, song, and spectacle.
Aristotle goes on to describe the elements of plot, which include
completeness, magnitude, unity, determinate structure, and universality.
Completeness refers to the necessity of a tragedy to have a beginning, middle,
and end. A 'beginning' is defined as an origin, by which something naturally
comes to be. An 'end,' meanwhile, follows another incident by necessity, but
has nothing necessarily following it. The 'middle' follows something just as
something must follow it.
'Magnitude' refers simply to length -- the tragedy must be of a
'length which can be easily embraced by the memory.' That said, Aristotle
believes that the longer a tragedy, the more beautiful it can be, provided it
maintains its beginning, middle, and end. And in the sequence of these three
acts, the tragedy will present a change 'from bad fortune to good, or from good
fortune to bad.'
'Unity' refers to the centering of all the plot's action around a
common theme or idea.
'Determinate structure' refers to the fact that the plot all
hinges on a sequence of causal, imitative events, so if one were to remove even
one part of the plot, the entire tragedy 'will be disjointed and disturbed.'
More simply, every part of a good plot is necessary.
'Universality' refers to the necessity of a given character to
speak or act according to how all or most humans would react in a given situation,
'according to the law of probability or necessity.'
Aristotle ends this discussion of plot elements by pointing his
out his particular disdain for 'episodic' plots - plots in which episodes
succeed one another 'without probably or necessary sequence' (like a weekly
sitcom, for instance). These episodic dramas stretch plot 'beyond their
capacity,' and hence are inorganic.
Analysis
Aristotle highlights the primacy of action in this section as the
key to an artist's imitation. Indeed, because action initiates a chain of
causal events, it is the single most important driver of plot. Though an astute
reader might ask 'But what causes action?', Aristotle quickly responds by
arguing that ultimately the things that drive action - character and thought -
aren't nearly as important as the action itself. For plot is the simple
arrangement of incidents in causal chains, and in this plot alone we can find
satisfaction, even if it is not clearly motivated with character or thought.
That said, the best of tragedies maintain the primacy of plot
while also inlaying the drama with character, diction (rhythmic language),
thought, spectacle, and song. Character here refers to the attributes either
ascribed or clearly evident in a given man - virtues which ultimately define a
tragic hero's flaw and the source of his redemption. Thought, meanwhile, refers
to the ideas of a given character, conveyed by speech. Though thought
illuminates character, it is not necessary for it - indeed, a silent hero still
would have a clearly delineated character, and perhaps an even clearer one than
a loquacious character. Again, Aristotle's thesis is proved - that it is action
that is paramount, regardless of motivation or underlying cause.
'Unity' is another concept which may confuse the reader, since
Aristotle does not spend much time explicating it. Unity refers to the ability
of the best plots to revolve around an axis, a theme which 'unites' all the
action. A unified drama will have a 'spine' - a central idea which motivates
all the action, characters, thoughts, diction, and spectacle.
'Determinate structure' follows from unity -- if the action
revolves around a central spine, it creates a full skeleton of plot. But remove
one bone, and the entire body of action becomes unstable, since every bone
radiates from the central spine and is thus fully necessary. The test,
Aristotle says, is to see if there is any part of the plot which can be removed
without missing it. If this is true, then it must be excised. A true drama
never wanders from its central spine for fear of losing its unity.
'Universality', meanwhile, is slightly more vague, but appeals to
our common sense. Aristotle simply states that a character must act in
accordance with human nature - either through probability, i.e. what 'most of
us' would do, or through necessity, i.e. what we are 'forced' to do. An action
cannot seem arbitrary - otherwise not only will it violate the determinate
structure and break unity, but it will also irritate an audience that sees no
basis for the action in human behavior.
Aristotle's Poetics Summary and Analysis of Chapters 10-12
Summary
In order for plot to function, it not only needs the basic
concepts from the previous chapters, but the following components as well:
astonishment, reversal (or peripeteia), recognition, and suffering.
Astonishment
refers to a tragedy's ability to inspire 'fear and pity.' Both fear and pity
are elicited from an audience when the events come by surprise, but not by
chance. The surprise that drives the tragedy must feel like it is part of a
grander design.
Reversal is the change by which the main action of the story comes
full-circle -- for example, In Oedipus, the messenger who comes to free Oedipus
from his fears of his mother produces the opposite effect with his news.
Recognition is the change from ignorance to knowledge, usually
involving people coming to understand the identities of one another or
discovering whether a person 'has done a thing or not.' The best forms of
recognition are linked with a reversal (as in Oedipus) and, in tandem, will
produce pity and fear from the audience.
Suffering is
a destructive or painful action, which is often the result of a reversal or
recognition. Aristotle points out that a 'simple' plot omits a reversal or recognition,
but a 'complex plot has one or the other - or both, if it is truly
transcendent. All tragedies, however, depend on suffering as part of its
attempt to elicit pity and fear from the audience.
Finally, Aristotle points out the structural parts of a tragedy
(or 'quantitative' parts, as he calls them). These are the prologue, episode,
exode, and choric song.
The prologue is the part of the tragedy which precedes the first
undivided utterance of the chorus. The episode is the part of the tragedy
between choral songs, and the exode is the first part of a tragedy with no
choric song after it.
Analysis
Three key concepts are introduced in this section - reversal,
recognition, and catharsis (though Aristotle refers to the last as
'purgation.') A simple tragedy will have none of these elements (or a
perfunctory catharsis), but a complex tragedy will use reversal and recognition
to achieve catharsis.
Reversal works in tandem with a story's spine or center to ensure
that the hero comes full circle. Oedipus is the best example of a hero who
encounters such a reversal -- he hears news that his fears have been allayed,
the mystery solved, and then in the course of enjoying this relief and hearing
the news, he realizes that it in fact implicates him.
Often, recognition is a tool to achieve this reversal or a
byproduct of it -- in this case, Oedipus recognizes the true identity of his
father and mother, the nature of his own crimes, and the accuracy of the
prophecy. In one swift blow, Oedipus has come full circle and is now the victim
of his own search for justice and truth.
The concept of suffering is slightly misleading in that it does
not refer simply to a character's endurance of physical and emotional pain. In
order to truly produce catharsis - the commingling of fear and pity in an
audience - the suffering must be a consequence of reversal or recognition. And
indeed, the more surprising the reversal or recognition - as in the case of
Oedipus - the more the audience will themselves suffer empathetically,
realizing that they too have been ambushed by the causal chain of the plot.
Even as 'objective' observers, audience members too are flawed - and thus learn
from the tragic hero's fate.
Catharsis, then, is pity for the hero, and fear that his fate
could befall us. While pity is the result of any combination of reversal and
recognition, fear can only be a product of reversal and recognition crafted
into a surprising ending to the plot. And indeed, the absolute pinnacle of
tragedy comes when surprise, reversal, recognition, and suffering are united
around the core spine of the story in a swift blow to the audience at the end
of the third act.
Aristotle's Poetics Summary and Analysis of Chapters 21-24
Summary
Aristotle classifies Greek words in an esoteric discussion of 'simple' and
'compound' terms, and the reader can sift through a majority of this analysis
and focus instead on his definition of a few key literary terms.
First is 'metaphor,' or the use of 'transference' to link two
unlike things. 'Life's setting sun,' for instance, does not hedge or qualify
its comparison with 'like' or 'as' (that would be a simile), or create primacy
around one term (as in an analogy). Instead, a metaphor simply links two
objects with the understanding that the reader will find the unity of concept
that connects them.
Aristotle points out that the best poetry uses only 'current and
proper words,' meaning the contemporary lexicon. When an author resorts to
'lofty' or esoteric language, he alienates the reader. Indeed, a metaphor, says
Aristotle, only truly works when it uses ordinary words; if one were to use
'strange' or 'raised' words for a metaphor or other literary device, it simply
collapses into jargon.
And yet, Aristotle also permits the good poet to lengthen,
contract, and alter words to fit his purpose. By playing with ordinary words,
the poet creates 'distinct' language, but at the same time ensures that the
reader will maintain clarity. By playing with accepted or ordinary words, the
poet can engage the reader at the highest level. (One can think of Shakespeare
here, and the way he so often uses recognizable words in extraordinary ways to
achieve his rhythms and images.)
Aristotle next proceeds to a discussion of the epic form - which
employs a single meter, a dramatic plot, unity, and all the other features of a
tragedy. (As mentioned before, a proper epic maintains all the elements of a
tragedy, since tragedy evolved from the epic form.) An epic does not portray a
single action, but rather a single 'period,' thus often charting the course of
many characters over the course of many events.
Epic poetry falls into the same categories as tragedy: simple,
complex, ethical or pathetic. Also like tragedy, it requires reversals,
recognitions, scenes of suffering, and artistic thought and diction. There are
a few differences between tragedy and epic, however.
First, an epic poem, however, will not use song or spectacle to
achieve its cathartic effect. Second, epics often cannot be presented at a
single sitting, whereas tragedies are usually capable of being brought within a
single view. Epic poetry, after all, is not confined to the stage - and thus,
many events and characters can be presented simultaneously because of its
narrative form. Finally, the 'heroic measure' of epic poetry is hexameter, where
tragedy often uses other forms of meter to achieve the rhythms of different
characters' speech.
Aristotle points out that the poet should take as little part as
possible in the actual story of an epic - meaning limited first-person
narration, and no personal appearances in scenes if possible. At the same time,
'wonderment,' created by absurdity or irrational events for the purposes of
indulging the reader's pleasure, is allowed in an epic poem - even moreso than
in a tragedy. An absurd event or moment can pass more unnoticed in an epic
poem, simply because it is not being dramatized onstage.
That said, Aristotle notes that a tragic plot cannot have
'irrational parts.' There must be likelihood, no matter how seemingly
impossible the circumstances - as long as we trust that given the initial
incident, the plot follows logically and probably, then the poet is in the
realm of good drama. But if we believe neither the inciting incident, nor the
chain of events that follows, the poem is simply absurd, and thus summarily
dismissed.
Analysis
Chapters 21 and 22 of The Poetics offer a complex discussion of
language types and tropes that a reader unversed in the scripts of ancient
Greek can quickly sift through. He does, however, stop to offer a clear and
concise discussion of the use of metaphor - a device of figurative language
that is frequently misunderstood.
A metaphor is not simply a comparison of objects - but rather the
use of two unlike things in proximity in order to illustrate a larger, unified
concept. The second term in the metaphor, then, is subsumed by the first - in
the case, for instance, of 'life's setting sun,' the sun becomes part of a
fictional trope illustrating the ebb and flow of life. A good metaphor forces
us to actually position the objects together in an imaginary, but completely
probable relationship. And furthermore, a metaphor - unlike a simile or
analogy, which establishes the primacy of the first term - can easily be
reversed. After hearing the metaphor of 'life's setting sun,' we can then look
at the sun and see in its rise and fall the course of life. Metaphors, then,
are more fluid than the rest of figurative language, and hence Aristotle
focuses on them as the primary device of the good poet.
Metaphor also
replicates the human instinct to find connections through imitation. As one
critic notes, "The metaphorical system of the myth imitates life with the
organization of metaphors and the story line. Metaphors imitate it statically
and the story dynamically" (Hermeneutics, 1). As Aristotle pointed out
earlier in the Poetics, we cannot
help but imitate as a device for learning. The metaphor offers the clearest
device for imitation while also maintaining enough idiosyncrasy for the author
to engage the reader in his own imaginative world.
The
difference between epic poetry and tragedy may confuse some readers, but it can
be boiled down simply to the fact that epic poetry unfolds in a narrative form,
as in the Iliad, while a
tragedy depends on staging for its cathartic effect (Oedipus). The brief
distinction that Aristotle makes between the two forms on the basis of
spectacle has wider implications, perhaps, then he gives it. Epic poetry has no
need for spectacle because it gains its design from a large span of time.
Tragedy, however, is limited in its time frame - usually to a single day - and
thus the spectacle of suffering and horror is necessary for catharsis.
Finally, Aristotle points out that despite the invention required
for tragedy and epic, both forms depend on likelihood and probability. A
tragedy depends on probability even more than the epic, in that the events are
dramatized, forcing us to filter all the events onstage through our own
experience and classify it as either 'rational' or 'absurd.' An epic poem,
however, has more room for maneuvering, since the oral tradition allows a
balancing of the irrational with the pleasures of indulgence - as long as the
reader can imagine some world where the fiction could be real, then he will
continue to find the story engaging. If, however, he finds that the action is
'false,' then the causal chain of plot is broken, and often the work can never
recover.
Aristotle's Poetics Summary and
Analysis of Chapters 25-26
Summary
Aristotle next tackles 'critical difficulties' that a poet may face and the
solutions that will ensure his success. He names three major 'solutions' for
poets in attempting to imitate action and life:
a. The poet must imitate either things as they are, things as they
are thought to be, or things as they ought to be
b. The poet must imitate in action and language; the latter must
be current terms, or metaphors (and occasionally rare words)
c. Errors come when the poet imitates incorrectly - and thus
destroys the essence of the poem - or when the poet accidentally makes an error
(a factual error, for instance), which does not ultimately sabotage the entire
work. The only error that matters is one that touches the essential of the
given work - for instance, 'not to know that a hind has no horns is a less
serious matter than to paint it inartistically.'
Critics often argue with a poet's work if it is seen as either
impossible, irrational, morally hurtful, contradictory, or contrary to artistic
correctness. Aristotle refutes all of these judgments by saying simply that it
is the purpose - the essence - of the work that matters, and its goal in
imitating reality as it is, as it is thought to be, or as it ought to be.
Aristotle concludes by tackling the question of whether the epic
or tragic form is 'the higher.' Most critics of his time argued that tragedy
was for an inferior audience that required the gesture of performers, while
epic poetry was for a 'cultivated audience' which could filter a narrative form
through their own imagined characters.
Aristotle replies with the following:
a. Epic recitation can be marred with overdone gesticulation in
the same way as a tragedy; there is no guarantee that the epic form is not one
motivated by the oral gestures of the ones who recite it for audiences
b. Tragedy, like poetry, produces its effect without action - its
power is in the mere reading; enacting it onstage should give the exact same
effect as reading a good epic loud
c. The tragedy is, in fact, superior, because it has all the epic
elements as well as spectacle and music to provide an indulgent pleasure for
the audience. Moreover, it maintains a vividness of impression in reading as
well as staging.
Tragedy, then, despite the argument of critics is the higher art.
And with this quite controversial conclusion Aristotle ends his work.
Analysis
Aristotle
concludes the Poetics by addressing two main criticisms that
often plagued poetry in his time. First, there is the question of what makes
for 'good' poetry or 'bad' poetry. Aristotle points out that every work of art
can be distilled to its 'essence,' meaning its purpose of imitation. Either a
work aims to reveal life exactly as it is, as people think it is, or as it
ought to be. Thus, depending on which of these three imitative purposes a poet
has, his work should be considered under a separate set of criteria.
For instance, a poet who aims to show life as it 'ought to be'
certainly has more relaxed standards for the accuracy of representation than a
poet who is portraying life as it is. Aristotle uses the example of a poet who
might not know that a hind does not have horns -- in the case of a poet trying
to portray life realistically, this error would ultimately be more glaring that
in the case of a poet presenting an accurate view of life, simply because his
purpose leads the reader to expect verisimilitude of detail.
That said, what is also significant for the reader to understand
that in neither case does an error of detail necessarily affect the quality of
the poem - unless it perverts the essence of the piece. Only if the author
makes a fundamental error in the type of imitation he is pursuing is the final
work ultimately compromised.
Aristotle ends by addressing what appears to be a long-standing
debate between critics over the primacy of tragedy or epic poetry. Critics in
his time vaunted epic poetry, but Aristotle takes the opposite view, noting
that tragedy has all the same good qualities of an epic in its reading, but
also has the added dimension of being able to translate onstage into a drama of
spectacle and music, capable of being digested in one sitting.
Just as he
began without much of an introduction, so too Aristotle finishes the Poetics with
a perfunctory conclusion - no summary or final thought or discussion of
significance. He wraps up his argument swiftly, content that he has addressed
all the points laid out at the beginning, and confident that he has quashed his
critics' preconceptions about the poetic art form.
Aristotle's Poetics Greek Terms in
the Poetics
Aristotle uses a number of Greek terms in The Poetics that have become a
part of our literary lexicon. Review the terms below and think of examples of
texts that use each one.
Anagnorisis: recognition by the tragic hero of some truth about
his or her identity or actions that accompanies the reversal of the situation
in the plot (peripeteia).
antistrophe: the second section of the chorus
Deux ex machina: the intervention of an unexpected or invented
character, device or event to resolve a plot
Aristotle is disdainful of deux ex machina as a device to resolve
plot situations in tragedy, as a tragedy must unravel because of the inner
logic of the piece - not from a sudden intervention of the Gods (or the
author).
Denouement: the unraveling of the plot following the climax; often
begins immediately once the peripeteia passes
Dithyramb: choral poetry (that eventually evolved into the choral
song)
Episodion: an 'episode' of plot; not part of an organic,
determinate structure; usually significant of an indeterminate structure
epode: the third section of the choral interlude
Hamartia: the hero's tragic 'flaw' or 'frailty' that leads to his
demise
Mimesis: another term for poetic imitation
Pathos: the pity and fear that a poet uses to create catharsis,
the purgation of emotions, in an audience for a tragedy
strophe: the first movement of the choral interlude
Telos: represents the 'essence' or unity of a given plot
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