
Poetics
by Aristotle
'Poetics ' Summary
The table of contents page of the Poetics found in Modern Library's Basic Works of Aristotle (2001) identifies five basic parts within it.
-
Preliminary discourse on tragedy, epic poetry, and comedy, as the chief forms of imitative poetry.
-
Definition of a tragedy, and the rules for its construction. Definition and analysis into qualitative parts.
-
Rules for the construction of a tragedy: Tragic pleasure, or catharsis experienced by fear and pity should be produced in the spectator. The characters must be four things: good, appropriate, realistic, and consistent. Discovery must occur within the plot. Narratives, stories, structures and poetics overlap. It is important for the poet to visualize all of the scenes when creating the plot. The poet should incorporate complication and dénouement within the story, as well as combine all of the elements of tragedy. The poet must express thought through the characters' words and actions, while paying close attention to diction and how a character's spoken words express a specific idea. Aristotle believed that all of these different elements had to be present in order for the poetry to be well-done.
-
Possible criticisms of an epic or tragedy, and the answers to them.
- Tragedy as artistically superior to epic poetry: Tragedy has everything that the epic has, even the epic meter being admissible. The reality of presentation is felt in the play as read, as well as in the play as acted. The tragic imitation requires less time for the attainment of its end. If it has more concentrated effect, it is more pleasurable than one with a large admixture of time to dilute it. There is less unity in the imitation of the epic poets (plurality of actions) and this is proved by the fact that an epic poem can supply enough material for several tragedies.
Aristotle also draws a famous distinction between the tragic mode of poetry and history. Whereas history deals with things that took place in the past, tragedy concerns itself with what might occur, or could be imagined to happen. History deals with particulars, whose relation to one another is marked by contingency, accident or chance. Contrariwise, poetic narratives are determined objects, unified by a plot whose logic binds up the constituent elements by necessity and probability. In this sense, he concluded, such poetry was more philosophical than history in so far as it approximates to a knowledge of universals.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
Ancient GreekPublished In
Authors

Aristotle
Greece
Aristotle (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy...
Books by AristotleDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

A Theologico-Political Treatise by Benedict de Spinoza
Written by the Dutch philosopher Benedictus Spinoza, the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP) or Theologico-Political Treatise was one of the most con...

Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated is a philosophical treatise by René De...

A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Montfort
True Devotion to Mary is a treatise of what it means to have devotion to Our Lady. Montfort goes through the various aspects of this devotion explaini...

On Generation and Corruption by Aristotle
On Generation and Corruption also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific...

On Christian Doctrine by Saint Augustine of Hippo
De doctrina Christiana, a theological text written by Augustine of Hippo. It consists of four books that describe how to interpret and teach the Scrip...

A Philosophical Enquiry by Edmund Burke
Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry is an important treatise in the history of philosophical aesthetics, putting forth a theory of two concepts of central...

The New Organon by Francis Bacon
The Novum Organum is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon published in 1620. The title translates as "new instrument". This is a reference to Aristot...

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology is a work by English and American political activist Thomas Paine, arguing for...

Prior Analytics by Aristotle
The Prior Analytics is a work by Aristotle on deductive reasoning, known as his syllogistic, composed around 350 BCE. Being one of the six extant Aris...
Reviews for Poetics
No reviews posted or approved, yet...