-Aristotle’s Poetics
-Definition of Literature
-Definition of Poetry: Characteristics
-Definition of a) Epic poetry- Characteristics
b) Dramatic poetry/plays- Characteristics
-Tragedy: Best kind of plays- Characteristics
-Comedy- Characteristics
Written by Zianur Rahman
Aristotle’s Poetics
Aristotle’s POETICS At the beginning Aristotle announces his intention both to treat of the poetic art and its kinds and to discuss what kind of plot is required for a good poem.
The fundamental principle of the POETICS is that a poem is a mimesis, that is, an imitation. A tragedy, in particular, is an imitation of an action.
It is being an imitation, not being metric discourse, that makes something a poem. Thus, the Socratic dialogues are poems (?), while the philosophical discourses of Parmenides and Empedocles (which were written in epic meter) are not.
Aristotle discusses a number of genres, some of which are obscure ancient performance genres (such as dithyrambs and nomes). He seems to include instrumental music and dance as poetry. He ultimately focuses on four kinds—epic tragedy and comedy and dramatic tragedy and comedy.
Poetry has three kinds of differentiae—traditionally translated as medium, object, and mode (“in which,” ”what,” and “how”).
Some of the details of these are obscure, but the main ideas are that:
Medium is the sensory characteristic in terms of which the imitation is made. Analogy with other imitative arts: color and figure for painting and sculpture.
The three media of poetry are rhythm, discourse (speech), and harmony or music.
The objects of poetry are kinds of moral character—good, bad, and intermediate.
The modes are methods of exposition of the story—narration or enactment or mixed.
Examples of applying these differentiae: fluteplaying involves rhythm and harmony, whereas dancing involves rhythm alone.
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Definition of tragedy (Chapter 6): “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of enactment not narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.”
The genre of tragedy is seen by Aristotle as the culmination or perfection of the poetic art.
The so-called “parts” of tragedy:
Story or plot
Character
Thought
Language
Spectacle
Song
The story is the series of episodes. It ought to have causal unity and completeness.
The character is the moral quality of the agent.
Thought is the viewpoint of the agent and how he argues for it.
Language is the language of the discourse—it ought to be elevated and still clear.
Spectacle (I think) is the sensory appearance of a dramatic presentation. Spectacle seems to be thought of by Aristotle as a means of exposition of the story, and to essentially belong to stagecraft as opposed to poetry.
Song—music as used in drama.
By means of some of these elements poetics is connected to other parts of philosophy— plot and character connects poetics with ethics, thought with logic and rhetoric, language with grammar.
In Aristotle’s ethical theory, happiness is the supreme end of human life, and happiness is virtuous activity (in a complete life). Happiness is thus a product of virtue and fortune, and of these two only virtue is within our power. Virtue is of two kinds, intellectual and moral. Intellectual virtue has three spheres—the theoretical, the productive, and the practical. Moral virtue is the tendency or inclination towards those actions which practical reason determines are conducive towards (individual and collective) happiness. Moral virtue is the product of training in the youth and the cumulative effect of one’s history of choices as an adult. All action is for ends, and choice is “deliberate desire,” that is what one desires to do as a result of calculating the means to an end.
Aristotle evaluates everything in poetry based on the tragic effect—the purgation of the emotions of pity and fear—about which he says very little.
Thus he relegates what some might think of as the existential or theological meaning of the tragedy to the element of thought (that is, which the characters think the meaning of the events is).
According to Aristotle the most essential element is story. For the sake of making some further points about the concept of plot, I will now summarize the plot of Sophocles’Oedipus Tyrannus.
Upon Oedipus’ birth to the King and Queen of Thebes, a prophecy predicts that he is destined to kill his father. Because of the prophecy the baby Oedipus is exposed but is found and rescued by shepherds.
He is adopted and raised by the King and Queen of Corinth, all the time believing that they are his real parents, but as a young man he learns of a prophecy that he is destined to mate with his mother and kill his father. He leaves Corinth to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Traveling to Thebes he quarrels with and kills a man he meets on the road, who, unbeknownst to him, is his biological father, Laius.
After arriving in Thebes, he gains power by solving the riddle of the Sphinx and marries the widowed queen, who is, of course, unbeknownst to him, his biological mother. With her he has children.
The city falls prey to a plague, and this is generally interpreted as a punishment for its harboring the murderer of Laius.
As a conscientious ruler Oedipus resolves to root out and rid the city of its pollution, and in his determination approaches ever more closely to learning the truth.
His wife/mother guesses the truth and hangs herself, and when Oedipus finds her he blinds himself with her brooches. He becomes an exile.
Aristotle classifies plots as simple or compound.
Compound plots contain one or both of the elements of recognition and reversal, and are superior to simple ones.
Recognition is the revelation of a character as someone other than he or she has purported to be.
Reversal (of fortune) is the transition from good or bad fortune to the opposite.
Oedipus Tyrannus obviously contains both recognition and reversal—recognition brings reversal.
According to Aristotle, the best tragic plot, because it best evokes the emotions of pity and fear leading to purgation, is the downfall of a good man on account of his hamartia, sin, fault, or flaw.
Thus, the plot of Homer’s Odyssey is not ideal in this respect, because the bad fall and the good (Odysseus) rises.
Aristotle says that in constructing a good plot the poet ought to “place the scene, as far as possible, before his eyes.” (Chapter 17)
Aristotle also says that Homer is most imitative of epic poets because he has the characters, as opposed to the poet, nearly always doing or talking. (Chapter 24)
Applying the six elements to fantasy and science fiction (this is me, not Aristotle). We might argue that there is a seventh element, “world.” (In ancient Greek tragedy the world was usually given as the world of the Homeric heroes.)
Examples of wonderful worlds of fantasy and science fiction—Middle-Earth, Asimov’s Galactic Empire, McCaffrey’s Pern.
Often the primary story has the function of giving a perspective on a larger story— Homeric poems—the Trojan War; Tolkien—the story of the creation of Arda and its progress towards realizing the vision of Iluvatar and the Song of the Ainur.
Character can be expanded to include personality—the personalities of the kinds of aliens in the Known Space of Larry Niven.
Thought seems to me to be the primary means by which a poem has philosophical content.
Spectacle can be thought of as including description of the world and action of the story—what is seen in the mind’s eye or felt by the reader as he / she reads or listens.
For the assignment of analyzing a short story or movie, the starting point should be the six parts or tragedy (or seven, counting world).
Source: academic.csuohio.edu › classes
Definition of Literature
1-Writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays.
2- The entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc.: the literature of England.
3-The writings dealing with a particular subject: the literature of ornithology.
4-The profession of a writer or author.
5-Literary work or production.
6-Any kind of printed material, as circulars, leaflets, or handbills: literature describing company products.
(https://www.dictionary.com/browse/literature)
Definition of Poetry: Characteristics
The kind of thing poets write (Robert Frost)
•The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings (William Wordsworth)
• The recollection of an emotion, which causes a new emotion (William Wordsworth)
•Poetry is feeling confessing itself to itself, in moments of solitude (John Stuart Mill)
• When we read a poem something happens within us. They bring to life a group of images, feelings, and thoughts (Stageberg & Anderson)
• Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things (Mathew Arnold)
• Poetry teaches the enormous forces of a few words (R.W. Emerson)
• Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to help reason (Samuel Johnson)
• Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best mind (Percey Bysche Shelley)
Characteristics:
5 Key Characteristics of Poetry
There are few, if any, hard and fast rules for writing poetry. It is a subjective art form that affords its authors freedom to express themselves in ways both traditional and innovative. Poems do not have to rhyme, nor do they have to follow any particular structure or include any particular style. Still, most poems do feature a few key characteristics. These are stylistic choices that can vary from piece to piece, but must nonetheless be made by every poet.
Figures of Speech
Figures of speech, or figurative language, are ways of describing or explaining things in a non-literal or non-traditional way. For example, a metaphor describes something by likening it to something else: "His touch was a lightning strike." The author doesn't mean that the touch was literally a lightning strike, but rather that it produced feelings of heightened excitement and charged emotions. Other figures of speech may include hyperbole, which is a frequently humorous exaggeration that hints at a larger truth. The quote "I ran faster than a cheetah" is an example of hyperbole. The mention of object to symbolize or represent something else is also hyperbole.
Descriptive Imagery
Imagery is something concrete, like a sight, smell or taste. Imagery describes what the poet sees, hears or otherwise senses, be it a literal image or one that exists in his mind. Visual imagery, which describes what the poet sees, is the most common type of image in poetry. It creates a picture that the reader or listener can see in his mind.
Punctuation and Format
The punctuation and format of the poem deal with how it is arranged on the page and how the author intends for you to read it. For example, if a poem has frequent line breaks and short stanzas, it forces you to read it in a different rhythm than if it were arranged in longer stanzas with fewer breaks. To better understand this concept, read poetry aloud instead of in your head; when you read poetry, or listen to the poet read his own work, you see the impact of the format.
Sound and Tone
Poets use different sounds and tones throughout poetry to change the way it sounds. For example, the poet may use alliteration, which is when multiple consecutive words start with the same letter. For example, he may write, "Pretty pugs playfully prance on the promenade." The poet may choose his letters to give the poem a soft or sharp sound, as well. For example, choosing words that use "soft" consonants like f, m and w produces a different sound than words with "hard" consonants like d, k, t and z.
Choice of Meter
The meter of a poem is the rhythm or pattern of speech with which you read it, and it doesn't happen by accident. Poets use different meters to give their poetry different rhythms, which have technical names like iambic pentameter or spondaic heptameter. These names function like measurements for poetry -- a poem's rhythm and meter can be broken down and analyzed according to measurements like these.
References
- CSU Stanislaus: PAL-- Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project
- University of Michigan: Catchy Characteristics of Poetry
Definition of a) Epic poetry- Characteristics
b) Dramatic poetry/plays- Characteristics
Definition of Epic poetry- Characteristics
Epic Poetry
An epic poem is a long, narrative poem that is usually about heroic deeds and events that are significant to the culture of the poet. Many ancient writers used epic poetry to tell tales of intense adventures and heroic feats. Some of the most famous literary masterpieces in the world were written in the form of epic poetry.
Epic poems were particularly common in the ancient world because they were ideal for expressing stories orally. These works continue to be well regarded today. Many high school students read famous examples of epic poetry, such as Gilgamesh and The Iliad.
Epic poetry- Characteristics
Epics have seven main characteristics:
1. The hero is outstanding. They might be important, and historically or legendarily significant.
2. The setting is large. It covers many nations, or the known world.
3. The action is made of deeds of great valour or requiring superhuman courage.
4. Supernatural forces—gods, angels, demons—insert themselves in the action.
5. It is written in a very special style (verse as opposed to prose).
6. The poet tries to remain objective.
7. Epic poems are believed to be supernatural and real by the hero and the villain
b) Dramatic poetry/plays- Characteristics
Dramatic poetry/plays:
Dramatic poetry, also known as dramatic verse or verse drama, is a written work that both tells a story and connects the reader to an audience through emotions or behavior. A form of narrative closely related to acting, it usually is performed physically and can be either spoken or sung. Normally, it uses a set rhyming or meter pattern, setting it apart from prose. It has evolved since its start in ancient Greece, but it still survives today, especially in opera librettos. A lack of strict guidelines makes it somewhat debatable what exactly counts as a dramatic poem, but in general, the four main accepted forms include soliloquy, dramatic monologue, character sketch and dialogue.
Characteristics:
Dramatic poetry, also known as dramatic monologue, is meant to be spoken or acted. Similar to narrative poetry, dramatic poetry tells a story. You're most likely to find dramatic poetry in the form of dramatic (or even comedic) monologues or soliloquies written in a rhyming verse.
Characteristics
- A speaker is a single person who is not a poet.
- The views of the speaker may contradict with those of the poet.
- The speech of this character makes up the whole of the verse, in a specific situation at a crucial moment.
- This character addresses & interacts with one or more people, but we know of the others’ presence & what they say or do only from clues in the poetic dialogues of the speaker.
- The primary focus of the poet is to tell the readers and audience a story having a moral in a way that boosts the curiosity towards it, the speaker’s temperament & character.
- The subject of the monologue is self-revelation. These are some of the features of dramatic monologue.
- The rhyme scheme is not important in Dramatic Monologue.
Tragedy: Best kind of plays- Characteristics
Tragedy:
Tragedy is a genre of story in which a hero is brought down by his/her own flaws, usually by ordinary human flaws – flaws like greed, over-ambition, or even an excess of love, honor, or loyalty.
In any tragedy, we start with the tragic hero, usually in his prime. The hero is successful, respected, and happy. But he has some tragic flaw that will ultimately cause his downfall. Usually, the plot of the story follows a gradual descent from greatness to destruction. It’s especially important that the hero end up isolated from all of his friends and companions. In the end, we feel deep sadness and pity (also called pathos) for the hero. But we also feel a sense of understanding – the story warns us to guard against the ordinary flaws that brought down the hero.
Sometimes, people use the word “tragedy” for any sad event. For example, we might say that an airplane crash or tsunami was “tragic.” But in literature, the word has a much more specific meaning than that.
[GENERAL SPOILER ALERT: Since tragedies are largely defined by their endings, many of the examples in this article contain spoilers]
(Source: https://literaryterms.net/tragedy)
Best kind of plays:
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Used as the exemplar of dramatic writing in Aristotle's Poetics, this Greek tragedy remains a pillar of playwriting. Before walking into a production or picking up a copy of the script, we all know that King Oedipus has killed his father, married his mother, etc. And yet Sophocles' slow reveal of the truths of the monarch’s life and the pride that sets him and his family spiraling toward a tragic downfall never ceases to be genuinely compelling. This one stands the test of time simply because it's good stage storytelling. (https://www.timeout.com)
#2 – King Lear
Every line of iambic pentameter in Shakespeare’s tale of an abused old king is
so depressing and brutal that theatre producers in the Victorian Age would
allow substantial changes to the play’s ending in order to give audiences
something slightly more upbeat.
Throughout this classic drama, the audience wants to simultaneously slap and
embrace King Lear. You want to smack him because he is too stubborn to
acknowledge the ones who truly love him. And you want to hug him because he is
so misguided and so easily fooled, he allows the evil characters to take
advantage of him then abandon him to the storm.
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#3 –
Medea
Character “Medea is a witch” said by many. Jason(husband) knows this, as
do Creon and Glauce, but Medea seemed appeased, so when she presents a wedding
gift to Glauce of a dress and crown, Glauce accepts them. The theme is familiar
from the death of Hercules. When Glauce puts on the robe it burns her flesh.
Unlike Hercules, she dies. Creon dies, too, trying to help his daughter. So far
the motives and reactions seem understandable, but then Medea does the
unspeakable.”
In the gruesome tragedy Medea, the title character, murders her own children.
However, before she can be punished, Helio’s sun chariot swoops down and she
flies off into the sky.
So in a sense, the playwright creates a double tragedy. The audience witnesses
a tragic act, and subsequently witnesses the escape of the perpetrator. The
murderer does not get her comeuppance, thereby infuriating the audience all the
more.
#4 – Romeo and Juliet
Though,
this play is accepted by millions as a love story. But to observe
more critically we notice that there are two hormone-driven teenagers who kill
themselves because of the stubborn hatred of ignorant adults.
The tragedy may be overrated and overdone, but consider the ending of the play:
Juliet lies asleep but Romeo believes that she is dead so he prepares to drink
poison in order to join her.
The situation remains one of the most devastating examples of dramatic irony in
the history of drama.
Characteristics of tragedy:
According to Aristotle, the ideal tragic plot has certain major chief characteristics and they are given below –
(1)It imitates ‘a serious action’, and not a ‘trivial’ one.
(2) The action it imitates depicts a ‘change from happiness to misery’ so that it can arise the tragic emotions of pity and fear.
(3) It is ‘a complete whole’ which means it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
(4) It is of a certain “magnitude’, i.e. size or length. Its length should be sufficient to depict the process of change from happiness to misery, completely and clearly.
(5) It must have unity of action. There must be nothing which means there must be no incident or character superfluous in it, nothing which is not conducive to the process of change.
(6) Unity of action also implies that there should be no plurality of action and there should be only one action. Aristotle rules out double plots, plots having two actions, one tragic and the other comic.
(7) It must have organic unity, i.e. the parts should be proportionately related to each other and the whole. There must be symmetry, proportion, and order, as in the organization of a living creature.
(8) Aristotle lays great emphasis on the rule of probability and necessity. The various incidents must be probable under the circumstances, and they must necessarily follow from the prior incidents. Thus necessity implies logical link-up of the various incidents, events and ‘probability’ implies the integration of plot with character. The various events must have logical unity; they must also have another unity that is the unity which results from the aim or purpose of the dramatist, that of arousing the tragic emotions.
(9) Plots may be fatal or fortunate. For
tragedy, fatal plots are the best.
(10) Simple plots, and plots in which the dramatist has failed in properly
linking up the various episodes, are rated very low by Aristotle.
(11) Complex plots are the best, for they are characterized by the element of
surprise. They have Peripeteia and Anagnorisis.
(12) In the end, Aristotle advises tragic dramatists to take great care of
their denouements, of the resolution of complications. Poetic Justice is not
necessary, and there should be no double-ending.
Comedy- Characteristics
Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having a cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over unpleasant circumstance by creating comic effects, resulting in a happy or successful conclusion.
Characteristics:
Complex: Comic heroes tend to be more flexible. Life tends to be messier, full of diversity and unexpected twists and turns. It is more difficult to classify experience.
High Tolerance for Disorder: Comic plots tend to be more random; they seem to be improvised, leaving a number of loose ends.
Seeking out the Unfamiliar: Comic heroes and plots tend to see the unexpected and surprising as an opportunity rather than a norm-violation.
High Tolerance for Ambiguity: In comedy, ambiguity is what makes humor possible. Equally, not everything has to make sense in comedy.
Divergent Thinking: Comedy is more imaginative, stressing playfulness. It tends to look for a variety of answers and doesn't need to solve everything.
Critical Thinking: Comedy tends to call attention to the incongruities in the order of things, be it political, social, religious.
Emotional Disengagement: Comic heroes are often ironic and disengaged from the situation; they tend to respond with wit, imagination, or cynicism. They tend to abstract themselves from their misfortunes. The audience is expected to react in much the same way to what the characters undergo.
Adaptable: Comic heroes are more willing to change. Or if they are not, we as the audience find this funny rather than tragic.
Pragmatic: The comic vision is more aware of concrete realities. Comic heroes seek how to make it from day-to-day.
Reversal: At least for the clever, comic actions allow one to escape the consequences, to have a second chance.
Body: The comic vision is very concerned with the human body--its sexual desires, bodily functions, craving for food. Suffering is often slap-stick. Comic heroes seem comfortable in such a world.
Playfulness: Even if it has its serious side, the comic vision tends to treat large portions of life as not quite so serious.
Source: https://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/comedytr.htm
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