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. Quite a few comments have been posted about poetics. So unpoetic a soul as aristotle s has no business speaking about such a topic, much less telling poets how to go about their business. It is a deep and meaningful book by one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived, and will enrich all who read it. The internet classics archive poetics by aristotle. Book iii is, thematically speaking, probably the central book of the politics.
Part xxi words are of two kinds, simple and double. He assesses this theory against a background of earlier greek views on poetry and art, particularly platos. It discusses things like unity of plot, reversal of situation, and character in the context of greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry. Book 8 this is all about friendship, which aristotle first defines and then breaks down into three types. He reduces the drama to its language, people say, and the language itself to its least poetic element, the story, and then he encourages. Plato, in his theory of forms, separates the sensible world appearances of the intelligible world ideas and the intelligible world was the only reality, the foundation of all truth. Aristotle illustrates the mean through an example of the overly confident person versus the overly fearful person. He explains what is necessary for complete friendship to exist, including the need for friends to live together in order to see what is lovable in each other and to become more alike. Of the three elements of a speech, we have now completed our investigation of persuasion. This detailed literature summary also contains topics for discussion and a free quiz on poetics by aristotle. The unity of a plot does not consist, as some suppose, in its having one man as its subject. In it, aristotle offers an account of what he calls poetry. I gave these works of aristotle a four star rating based entirely on the politics book and not the poetics book.
But in aristotles metaphysics, at the heart of his philosophy, such separation removes any intelligibility and meaning to the world. Poetics study guide from litcharts the creators of. In fact, however, the majority of the work is dedicated to studying tragic poetry, the highest form, and briefly discusses epic poetry. In aristotle s poetics, the text explains his theory of tragedy. Aristotle had a profound impact on early thought and philosophy and is often referred to as the father of western philosophy.
As a side note, aristotle s defining of tragedy and the tragic hero is still used today. Clark has also published other books on drama and literature. Poetics is the earliest known work of literary criticism. The important thing is that when aristotles writing his poetics, greek theatre was not in its heyday, but was already past its peak. In this book aristotle lays out almost all of his major ideas about the purpose of politics, the virtue of citizens, the varieties of regimes and the nature of justice. 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. Aristotle s poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. E, aristotle died at age 62 of natural causes on the greek island of euboea. Aristotle gives his views on tragedy, the plot, the characters and the content, and then it is compared to epic poetry. On one end of the extreme is the excessively confident person, who makes stupid decisions because they fear nothing. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Having thus distinguished the parts, let us now consider the proper construction of the fable or plot, as that is at once the first and the most important thing in tragedy. Content wise, i think this book is great, but it was just so very boring. The poetics purports to be systematic analysis of the various types of poetry.
In this sustained interpretation, stephen halliwell demonstrates that poetics, despite its laconic brevity, contains a coherent statement of mimetic art in general. Physica, or naturales auscultationes, possibly meaning lectures on nature is a named text, written in ancient greek, collated from a collection of surviving manuscripts known as the corpus aristotelicum, attributed to the 4thcentury bc philosopher aristotle. Aristotles poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. In aristotles poetics, the text explains his theory of tragedy. Sep 10, 2010 aristotles poetics for the overwhelmed theatre student duration. This paper provides an overview and commentary of aristotles theory of poetry, of drama, and of narrative structure, as presented the poetics. The poetics of aristotle is a classic philosophical work by one of the worlds most respected and widely regarded philosophers of all time. 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. Like its companion piece rhetoric, aristotles poetics is an exploration of aesthetics, a branch of philosophy concerned with the concept of beauty and other. The number of those who have set themselves the task of revising our understanding of the poetics as a whole, both in its details and as a coherent system, is small indeed. As a side note, aristotles defining of tragedy and the tragic hero is still used today. In this text, clarks book has been used to a great extent, as for quotes of historic writing almost. 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.
He defines poetry as a medium of imitation that seeks to represent or duplicate life through character, emotion, or action. The types of works that aristotle discusses include works of drama especially tragedy and lyrical and epic poetry. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of aristotle 384322 b. It has been a standard book for literary criticism since centuries. The book is divided into short, fragmented sections that deals with every aspect of drama, poetry and epic. He explains what is necessary for complete friendship to exist, including the need for friends to live together in order to see. Only the first part that which focuses on tragedy and epic as a quasidramatic art, given its definition in ch 23. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. An infinity of things befall that one man, some of which it is impossible to reduce to unity.
Home other subjects philosophy classic books poetics chapter 5 navigate here chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 9 chapter 10 chapter 11 chapter 12 chapter chapter 14 chapter 15 chapter 16 chapter 17 chapter 18 chapter 19 chapter 20 chapter 21 chapter 22 chapter 23 chapter 24. It is especially popular with screenwriters as seen in many script gurus howto books. 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. This paper provides an overview and commentary of aristotle s theory of poetry, of drama, and of narrative structure, as presented the poetics. Major themes cathartic reversal aristotle argues that the best tragedies and thus the best plays, since aristotle considers tragedy to be the highest dramatic form use reversal and recognition to achieve catharsis. Aristotles poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. It is a beautifully written piece which explores concepts such as music, rhythm and harmony. His poetics was written in the 4 th century bc, some time after 335 bc. An introduction to the first great work of literary criticism. This brief volume brims with aristotle s timeless insights into such. Aristotle was the first theorist of theatre so his poetics is the origin and basis of all subsequent theatre criticism. Like its companion piece rhetoric, aristotle s poetics is an exploration of aesthetics, a branch of philosophy concerned with the concept of beauty and other. 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. Style and delivery book 3 begins with a brief introduction, outlining the discussion to follow.
At some point, aristotles original work was divided in two, each book written on a separate roll of papyrus. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. In fact, however, the majority of the work is dedicated to studying tragic. This 40page guide for rhetoric by aristotle includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 60 chapters, as well as several more indepth sections of expertwritten literary analysis. Summary and analysis of book 1 of aritotles politics. Aristotles poetics for the overwhelmed theatre student duration. Aristotles work on aesthetics consists of the poetics, politics bk viii and rhetoric. It is especially popular with screenwriters as seen in. Featured content includes commentary on major characters.
From the poetics by aristotle devoted to literary criticism, only the first part mainly dedicated to the tragedy was received. Home other subjects philosophy classic books poetics chapter 7 navigate here chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 9 chapter 10 chapter 11 chapter 12 chapter chapter 14 chapter 15 chapter 16 chapter 17 chapter 18 chapter 19 chapter 20 chapter 21 chapter 22 chapter 23 chapter 24. The book is an anthology, introducing an number of commentators on the drama, from aristotle onto the early 20 th century, and including substantial excerpts from their writings. What is the main ideas of aristotle s literary criticism as presented in his book poetics. He argues that the end of the state is the same end as that of man. Thirtyone of aristotles works have survived antiquity, including poetics, nicomachean ethics, politics, and rhetoric. What is the main ideas of aristotles literary criticism as presented in his book poetics.