Poetics | Chapters 1-14, 24, 26

Overview of Poetics

Author

Aristotle

Years Written

c. 350–335 BCE

Type

Nonfiction

Genre

Philosophy

At a Glance

Historians and literary experts commonly believe that Aristotle wrote Poetics as a response to Greek philosopher Plato's negative framing of poets and poetry in The Republic (c. 360 BCE). Poetics is Aristotle's treatise on dramatic performance poetry, in which he describes the different types of poetry and outlines their most important elements. This text was one of the first major treatises about drama in the West. Much of Western thought and philosophy owe their roots to the writings and teachings of Aristotle. Although fragmentary, Poetics has left its mark on the development of Western literature and theater.

Perspective and Narrator

Poetics is written in the first person wherein Aristotle addresses his readers and invites them into dialogue, using the first-person plural us.

About the Title

Poetics is a treatise on poetry as it was conceptualized in ancient Greece. Aristotle uses the word poetics to include a range of artistic work that, in modern times, would be classified as poetry, drama, and theater.

 

Aristotle | Biography

Early Life

In 384 BCE, Aristotle was born in the Macedonian city of Stagira in ancient Greece. His father, Nicomachus, was the royal court physician to Amyntas III, the King of Macedonia and grandfather of Alexander the Great. Aristotle trained in medicine while at court with his father, and when his father died in 367, he moved to Athens and joined the Greek philosopher Plato's Academy. He was 17 at the time.

Aristotle stayed at the Academy and studied avidly under Plato for 20 years. Philosophy experts surmise that many of Plato's dialogues written during this period were influenced by the conversations between teacher and pupil. Aristotle was also writing during this period, but only fragments of his work from the Academy survive. In one of his earliest works, titled Eudemus (c. 352 BCE), of which only small pieces remain, Aristotle employs his teacher's style of dialogue to reflect on some of Plato's views. In this work, Aristotle details his theory that death is the soul returning home, thus making the state of death a happier one than that of life.

Aristotle agreed with and used many of Plato's philosophies and techniques while at the Academy. However, he eventually began to diverge from his teacher's ideas. Aristotle seemed to have remained on good terms with the school and with Plato, but his writings started to reflect a disagreement with some of Plato's foundational theories. One of the main philosophical points that Aristotle took issue with was Plato's Theory of Forms. This theory holds that the real world of physical substance is changeable and, therefore, unreliable. Ideas, on the other hand, are a more accurate representation of reality. Aristotle argues against this theory in many of his works, citing its implausibility, and proposes alternative possibilities.

At the same time that Aristotle was studying at the Academy in Athens, King Philip II of Macedonia, son of Amyntas III, went to war against many of the Greek city-states. This war created ill will toward Macedonians living in cities like Athens. It was, consequently, a difficult time for Aristotle to be a Macedonian resident there. Eventually, years after Aristotle left Athens, Philip conquered Athens in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE and united much of Greece.

Summary

Chapter 1

Aristotle introduces the question "What are the elements of a good poem?" He proposes to inquire into at least two of these elements: plot structure and the number and type of parts that make up a poem. He offers five general categories to be discussed: epic poetry, tragedy, dithyrambic poetry, comedy, and music. All five of these categories share the trait of imitation, and each uses different tools to mimic reality. There are three main ways that each category differs in regard to imitation: the medium of imitation, the things being imitated, and the way those things are imitated. Imitation is expressed through means of harmony, rhythm, language, and poetic meter. Dithyrambic poetry (a Greek hymn usually expressed through song and dance), tragedy, and comedy each incorporate these means of imitation.

Chapter 2

The object that art aims to imitate is humans in action. There are three ways humans may be portrayed: as better than they are in reality, as worse, or as they actually are. Aristotle explains that Homer and Polygnotus both represent people as better than they really are, Hegemon and Pauson portray their characters as less good, and Dionysius and Cleophon draw their characters in the middle. He argues that this division illustrates the difference between tragedy and comedy: tragedy portrays people as better than in reality, and comedy portrays them as worse.

Chapter 3

The third type of imitation is the manner in which things are imitated. For example, a poet may choose to narrate, using their own voice, or may take on a particular personality in their narration, or exist only as a neutral observer. The word drama is often associated with these types of poetry because their focus is on people in action.

Chapter 4

Poetry springs from two deep human instincts: the instinct for imitation and the instinct for harmony and rhythm (including poetic meter). Then poetry splits in two different directions. These can be described as poetry written about noble and good characters and poetry written about more flawed characters. This is how the distinction between tragedy and comedy is created. According to Aristotle, Homer is the first poet to compose satirical poetry and create the basis for comedy.

Aristotle describes tragedy as developing slowly and through many stages. Dialogue gains greater importance, the number of actors gradually increases, sets are introduced, meter changes from trochaic (syllabic pattern of stressed unstressed) to iambic (unstressed stressed), which is considered a more natural speaking pattern. He references Aeschylus as being responsible for incorporating a second actor and reducing the prominence of the chorus, and Sophocles he gives credit for adding yet a third actor and developing the stage scenery.

Chapter 5

Comedy can be described as an imitation of something that is imperfect or ugly in a way that does not communicate or create pain. Unlike tragedy, comedy did not pass through the same extended period of development and originated in Sicily.

Epic poetry and tragedy both deal with characters on a higher moral level. Epic poetry can be distinguished from tragedy by its restriction to a single kind of meter and its longer length.

Chapter 6

Aristotle sets aside the subjects of comedy and epic poetry and introduces tragedy as the topic of the following chapter. He defines tragedy as poetry that concerns serious actions of a certain gravity, uses language that incorporates harmony, rhythm, and song, and is performed by actors. Tragedy consists of six main elements: character, plot, diction, thought, spectacle (acting), and song. Aristotle argues that plot is central to tragedy, while character development is secondary. "Thought" seems to indicate the intellectual aspects of the work, and diction the order and meaning of words. Spectacle, or the actors and acting, has the power to incite emotion, but Aristotle considers it the least important of the six elements of tragedy.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 focuses primarily on the structure of tragic plot. The plot must have a beginning, middle, and end, each part naturally causing or following the previous. Aristotle suggests that a plot gains adequate gravity through length. He argues that a small thing (or short plot) is not notable, but something that is too large to see the shape of is also problematic. The plot of a tragedy should be long but have a clear shape and a sense of wholeness.

 

Chapter 8

The tragic plot must be built around a single main action. In regard to the protagonist of the story, only the character's actions that are relevant to the main thread of the plot should be included. If actions or events do not make an impact by their inclusion or exclusion from the plot, then those actions are unnecessary.

Chapter 9

The chapter opens with the argument that the poet's job is to write about what may happen, as opposed to what has happened already. While comedy might invent characters as well as plot, tragedy usually uses the names of real people to give credibility and weight to the story. Aristotle emphasizes the creation of plot over the use of language, as the poet's job is to imitate action. The poet and the historian have distinctly different jobs: the poet writes about the universal, and the historian's focus is the specific. Aristotle also insists that plots should not be episodic, as episodes are not connected by organic cause and effect. Plots should evoke surprise and emotion in the reader, and those feelings are stronger when events have clear cause and effect instead of being the result of chance.

Chapter 10

Plots can be organized into two types: simple and complex. A simple plot is defined as a plot in which "the change of fortune takes place without Reversal of the Situation and without Recognition."

A complex plot uses the situational tools of "reversal" and/or "recognition." These situations should be natural and logical effects of the preceding situation.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 defines the previously mentioned concepts of "reversal of situation" and "recognition." Reversal of situation is a device wherein the plot flips around to the opposite of its initial trajectory. Recognition occurs when the central characters experience a reversal in knowledge or emotion—for instance, when the protagonist experiences a shift from hate to love. Combined, reversal and recognition usually inspire pity or fear in the audience and are based on the idea of surprise.

Aristotle briefly mentions a third part of the plot, which he calls "the Scene of Suffering." This is a scene that portrays destruction or pain, such as a scene of physical violence or death.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 introduces the tangible parts a tragedy may be divided into. Aristotle outlines these parts as prologue, episode, exode, and choric song.

Chapter 13

In this chapter Aristotle lays out the aims of a tragic poet and what the poet should avoid. A tragedy should follow the complex plot structure instead of the simple and should prompt pity and fear in the audience. It should avoid overly simplistic movement such as the complete downfall of the antagonist, because this type of plot does not evoke emotion in the audience. Aristotle proposes that a true tragedy involves a character who is brought from good to bad fortune not through evil or immorality in themselves, but through human error. He outlines a few of the major tragic characters, such as Oedipus and Telephus, and explains that most of the best tragedies are written about them.

Chapter 14

While pity and fear can be created through the acting and production of a tragedy, Aristotle argues that a good poet can create those feelings through the construction of the plot. He then details the types of actions or situations that cause people to experience feelings of fear or pity. These feelings are created, he claims, when a tragic accident happens to people who have a close relationship—such as a family member killing another family member. When such a situation is set up with "skillful handling," it should incite strong feelings of horror and sympathy in the audience. To handle the tragic situation skillfully, the action may be done with conscious understanding of the relationship between the characters (a mother knowingly murdering her children). There is also the option that the action may be committed without knowledge of the relationship, with understanding dawning after the deed is done (Oedipus unknowingly murdering his father).

Chapter 24

Epic poetry is similar to tragedy in its requirements of situation reversal, recognitions, and a need for general unity of plot. It does not, however, incorporate song and acting or performance.

Epic poetry is also set apart from tragedy in its length and scale, which is much longer and broader. It is possible for epic poems to take on events of a much larger scale over a longer timespan because they do not have to be conveyed by actors on a stage within a certain timeframe.

Epic poetry also uses heroic meter, whereas tragedy can use a variety of meters and aims for a naturalness of speaking. Additionally, Aristotle introduces the idea that epic poetry employs the irrational with good effect. Tragedies, he argues, deal with the wonderful but should leave out the irrational.

Chapter 26

Aristotle opens this chapter with the question of whether the epic poem or tragedy is considered the higher art form. He compares the two forms in terms of level of refinement and the audience's ability to discern. He posits that, if refinement makes one art form higher than the other, tragedy's reliance on extra embellishment through acting makes it the less advanced of the two forms. Epic poetry, by contrast, uses more subtle techniques to engage an audience with a refined palate.

However, Aristotle reminds the reader that tragedy should also have a strong enough plot to be conveyed through reading alone. Thus, the flaw that makes it a lower art form than epic poetry is not actually inherent in the tragic form at all.

At this point in the chapter, Aristotle reverses stances on which art form is the higher. He argues that tragedy does everything that epic poetry is capable of, but within a narrow and more focused scope. In addition, because of its much wider scope, epic poetry cannot have the same unity of plot as the tragedy is capable of.

Aristotle concludes Poetics with the assertion that the tragic form is, in fact, superior to the epic poem and recaps a list of some of the main topics of the treatise.

 

Mimesis

Mimesis is 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," mimesis in poetry is the act of telling stories that are set in the real world. The events in the story need not have taken place, but the telling of the story will help the listener or viewer to imagine the events taking place in the real world.

Hamartia

This word translates almost directly as "error," though it is often rendered more elaborately as "tragic flaw." Tragedy, according to Aristotle, involves the downfall of a hero, and this downfall is effected by some error on the part of the hero. This error need not be an overarching moral failing: it could be a simple matter of not knowing something or forgetting something.

Key-terms used in Poetics:

Anagnorisis

This word translates as "recognition" or "discovery." In tragedy, it describes the moment where 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, as is the case with Oedipus. Anagnorisis often occurs at the climax of a tragedy in tandem with peripeteia.

Mythos

When dealing with tragedy, this word is 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 the context of 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. After katharsis, we reach a more stable and neutral emotional state.

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. Indeed, we might say that the peripeteiais the climax of a story: it is 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 we reach the conclusion of the play.

Desis

Literally "tying," the desis is all the action in a tragedy leading up to the climax. Plot threads are craftily woven together to form a more and more complex mess. At the peripeteia, or turning point, these plot threads begin to unravel in what is called the lusis, or denouement.