Aristotle

Aristotle is known for his critical treatise: 

• The Poetics: deals with art and poetry 
• The Rhetoric: deals with the art of speaking  

Contributions from Aristotle’s The Poetics

In the Greek world, the Poetics by Aristotle was the first important critical treatise on literature. In politics, he applied a scientific method of analysis to literature. The purpose of Poetics was to analyze epic in relation to tragedy as well as poetry. His purposed ideas are enlisted;

• The tragic character  

• Peripeteia (reversal of fortune)  

• Anagnorisis (recognition of fact)  

• Hamartia (tragic mistake)  

• Unity of action, time and place 

• Unified and complete structure of plot with proper beginning, middle and end 

• Mimesis (the imitation) 

• Catharsis (the purification) 

His Concept of Poetry: 

Aristotle’s concept of poetry is a defense of poetry against the charge that poetry is a pack of lies, a copy of a copy, a shadow of shadows and twice removed from reality. Poetry, according to Aristotle, is an imitation-a creative imitation. It is a creative reproduction of objects. It involves the efforts of the imagination and intellect. It presents a higher truth, the truth of imagination or the fictional truth.  

• The function of the poet: 

• To show what may happen. 

• To use creative vision to make something new out of the material of life. 

Difference between Epic and Tragedy: 

Epic	Tragedy
Imitation of serious subject deals with the character of higher type   Plot can be complex simple full of sufferings Characters   Thought   Diction  Epic is lengthy  Timeless  Variety of actions  Variety of places   Bounded heroic meter  Epic uses the mode of the narrative  No chorus and no spectacles	Same  Same  Same  Same  Concentrated and compact length  Unity of time  Unity of action  Unity of place  Variety of meter  Tragedy uses the mode of dramatic  Has chorus and Spectacles