At some point, aristotles original work was divided in two, each book written on a separate roll of papyrus. Greek was very much a live language, and a language still unconscious of grammar, not, like ours, dominated by definitions and trained upon dictionaries. Aristotles poetics is the earliestsurviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. It is a beautifully written piece which explores concepts such as music, rhythm and harmony. The book is divided into short, fragmented sections that deals with every aspect of drama, poetry and epic. In book i he argues vigorously for a political theory based on nature. 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. Buy poetics penguin classics book online at low prices. 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. Aristotle tells us that the laws is later than the republic, pol. Such a structure might satisfy our feelings but it arouses neither pity nor fear, the one being for the man who does not deserve his misfortune and the other for the man who is like ourselvespity for the undeserved misfortune, fear for the man like ourselvesso that the result will arouse neither. Poetics has been divided into the following sections. By nature, man is a political animal, one naturally fitted for life in a polis or state.
Only the first part that which focuses on tragedy and epic as a quasidramatic art, given its definition in ch 23. Quite a few comments have been posted about poetics. In book ii he launches a sharp attack on platos two utopias, the. How should we decide who is to hold office and exercise power. It is clear that the general origin of poetry was due to two causes, each of them part of human nature. It is especially popular with screenwriters as seen in many script gurus howto books. This brief volume brims with aristotle s timeless insights into such. Politics, as the about this book blurb says, but aristotles poetics. Malcolm heaths introduction fills almost half the book but he truly captures the essence of poetics. Both had a huge amount of influence to todays politics around the world thinking about how societies and communities should work.
Other slaves are the poor of other countries, who prefer the life of a slave in utopia to that of a pauper in their own country. Aristotle gives his views on tragedy, the plot, the characters and the content, and then it is compared to epic poetry. The poetics of aristotle 335 bce is the earliest surviving treatise of dramatic theory and the first philosophy of literary theory from the west that influenced centuries of philosophers ever since. Theres no introduction to the book, just a note about when it was written circa 330bc and about aristotle himself, taking up less than a page. The poetics is, as far as we know, the first ever work of literary theory. I gave these works of aristotle a four star rating based entirely on the politics book and not the poetics book. In this book aristotles aim is to look at different states, particularly those that pass good laws and are well governed. Aristotle s work on aesthetics consists of the poetics, politics bk viii and rhetoric. Polygnotus depicted men as nobler than they are, pauson as less noble, dionysius drew them true to life. Poetics by aristotle classical wisdom weekly part 2. The island of utopia is in the middle two hundred miles broad, and holds.
In these first two books aristotle shows his complete mastery of political theory and practice, and raises many crucial issues still with us today. The subject of this weeks seminar reading was the works of plato and aristotle, the former being a teacher of the latter. Havelock senses in these two overlapping meanings of imitation platos. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. He begins by considering forms of government and their implications, the most important of which is that they involve some form of sharing. Aristotle writes also that he will address catharsis and an analysis of what is funny. The poetics of aristotle is a classic philosophical work by one of the worlds most respected and widely regarded philosophers of all time.
Aristotle, poetics, section 1453a tufts university. Unfortunately, it is one of only thirty one surviving treatises by aristotle of over two hundred he wrote. What is poetry, how many kinds of it are there, and what are their specific effects. Platos utopian republic and aristotles politics ben webb. Poetics by aristotle 384322 bc translated by ingram bywater 18401914 aristotles poetics from the 4th century b. Poetics is not a book that was prepared and polished for publication. It is only less difficult to write a popular book about the poetics ofaristotle than to write one about the elements ofeuclid. The remainder of book i is devoted to a discussion of the different media of imitation. Content wise, i think this book is great, but it was just so very boring. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of politics and what it means. Philosophy summary the learned men of utopia are given to disputing over various questions of moral philosophy, but their chief concern is in trying to determine the source and nature of happiness. Summary slavery exists in utopia, but the slaves are prisoners of war taken in battle or criminals, who are sentenced to slavery. Aristotles poetics, perhaps the most fundamental theoretical treatise on tragedy.
Poetry has medicinal qualities in ly as a utopia, as an allegory of th. As the shortest book ive got on my literature student bookshelf, this dover thrift edition poetics is the cheapest, and most flimsy, but completely worthwhile book. In modern democratic societies the answer to this question is simple. This paper provides an overview and commentary of aristotles theory of poetry, of drama, and of narrative structure, as presented the poetics. Peefacetothesecondedition thefollowingtextandtranslationofthepoetics formpartofthevolumeentitledaristotlestlieory ofpoetryandfineart,secondeditionmacmillan. On the other hand, in the poetics, aristotle fairly praises imitation as. Aristotle s poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. In this book aristotle s aim is to look at different states, particularly those that pass good laws and are well governed.
So, the question is how far should they go and this leads him to consider some of the most radical and wellknown proposals. The conclusion above, while perhaps poetic, is politically unsatis factory. Poetics is the earliest known work of literary criticism. Poetics by aristotle, part of the internet classics archive. Poetry and history since life is not a plot, it is not sufficient for a poet simply to record events as they happen. Clark has also published other books on drama and literature. Even if history were cast into the same kind of meter as is used in tragedy, aristotle argues, it would only be history in verse. Book vii of the politics that youth should not be allowed to be spectators of. Yet i trust the following pages give an intelligible account of what aristotle tried to say in his book on poetry, and how writers in various ages have reacted to his thoughts. In this article, tragedy and utopia are juxtaposed, and it is proposed that the problem of.
Although aristotles ideal regime discussed in books seven and eight of his. Aristotles politics is a key document in western political thought. 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. But he does not actually address any of those ideas. It has been a standard book for literary criticism since centuries. Euripides seems to have given her a knowledge of science and philosophy inappropriate to a woman.
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. The poetics of aristotle ness being the distinguishing marks of moral differences, it follows that we must represent men either as better than in real life, or as worse, or as they are. Most literary criticism combines poetics and hermeneutics in a single analysis. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. It discusses things like unity of plot, reversal of situation, and character in the context of greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry. Based on richard jankos philological reconstruction of. In this text, clarks book has been used to a great extent, as for quotes of historic writing almost. 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. Aristotle s poetics i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi xvii imitation the common principle of the arts of poetry. Aristotles poetics is the most influential book on tragedy ever written. Aristotle, poetics, section 1454a tufts university.
Plato on utopia stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. I proposeto treat of poetry in itself and of its various kinds, noting the essential quality of each, to inquire into the structure of the plot as requisite to a good poem. In book viii of the politics, aristotle speaks of the educative value of visual. Summary if a utopian wants to visit friends in another town, he can obtain a passport for travel from the syphogrant and tranibors, provided that he is not needed for work in his own town. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneutics by its focus not on the meaning of a text, but rather its understanding of how a texts different elements come together and produce certain effects on the reader. So, the question is how far should they go and this leads him to consider some of the most radical and wellknown proposals made by. The medium of imitation the three basic media which aristotle recognizes are rhythm, language, and harmony. Two other unique features are jankos translations with notes of both the tractatus coislinianus, which is argued to be a summary of the lost second book of the poetics, and fragments of aristotles dialogue on poets, including recently discovered texts about catharsis, which appear in english for the first time. Aristotles poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. From the poetics by aristotle devoted to literary criticism, only the first part mainly dedicated to the tragedy was received. The poetics of aristotle, its meaning and influence by. The slippage of the meaning of mimesis is carried over into book x to include.
Some are criminals who have been sentenced to death in other countries and who are bought by utopian merchants. What is the main ideas of aristotles literary criticism as presented in his book poetics. Here, walter watson offers a new interpretation of the lost second book of aristotles poetics. In the poetics, aristotle is primarily concerned with analysis of. For some 20 years aristotle was platos student and colleague at the academy in athens, an institution for philosophical, scientific, and mathematical research and. Part of the discussion of poetry in book 2 deals with its content. This complete text of the the poetics book by aristotle, translated by ingram bywater, with a preface by gilbert murray, is in the public domain.
At some point, aristotle s original work was divided in two, each book written on a separate roll of papyrus. Book ii treats the objects of imitation and book iii discusses the mode of imitation. Its the debate between aristotle in the rhetoric and plato in. Aristotle does not, however, decide on whether tragedy and by.
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