Poetics
By Aristotle
()
About this ebook
Aristotle
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist whose works have profoundly influenced philosophical discourse and scientific investigation from the later Greek period through to modern times. A student of Plato, Aristotle’s writings cover such disparate topics as physics, zoology, logic, aesthetics, and politics, and as one of the earliest proponents of empiricism, Aristotle advanced the belief that people’s knowledge is based on their perceptions. In addition to his own research and writings, Aristotle served as tutor to Alexander the Great, and established a library at the Lyceum. Although it is believed that only a small fraction of his original writings have survived, works such as The Art of Rhetoric, Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics, and Metaphysics have preserved Aristotle’s legacy and influence through the ages.
Read more from Aristotle
The Basic Works of Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle's Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art Of Rhetoric Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nichomachean Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRhetoric: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Organon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Tell a Story: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Storytelling for Writers and Readers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Rhetoric Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPocket Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle: Complete Works (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Poetics
Related ebooks
The Poetics Of Aristotle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for H.G. Wells's The Time Machine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Richard III" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComedy on Stage and Screen: An Introduction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouse of Cards by Michael Dobbs (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Anonymous's "Everyman" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon't Worry, Life Is Easy by Agnès Martin-Lugand (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eleven Comedies, Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudy Guide to Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Historicism and Other Old-Fashioned Topics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDubliners by James Joyce (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism of Happiness: Introducing a New Economic World Order that Puts Happiness at Its Core Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNocturne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"A Study Guide for Pablo Neruda's ""Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market""" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Thomas Mann's "Disorder and Early Sorrow" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Death of Ivan Ilych (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudy Guide to Baal and Other Works by Bertolt Brecht Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 30" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHedda Gabler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Works of Mark Twain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death in Venice (MAXNotes Literature Guides) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings"A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Sense of Measure for Measure! A Students Guide to Shakespeare's Play (Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelling) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudies in Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Jason A. Williams' Bitcoin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProlegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMuch Ado About Nothing Companion (Includes Study Guide, Historical Context, Biography, and Character Index) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDouble Indemnity: A Teacher's Guide with Full Lesson Plans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Behold a Pale Horse: by William Cooper | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Between the World and Me: by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born a Crime: by Trevor Noah | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Alone: by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Poetics
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Poetics - Aristotle
POETICS
By ARISTOTLE
Translated by INGRAM BYWATER
Poetics
By Aristotle
Translated by Ingram Bywater
Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7472-0
eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7639-7
This edition copyright © 2021. Digireads.com Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Cover Image: a detail of Greek Theatre
, by Peter Jackson (1922-2003) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images.
Please visit www.digireads.com
CONTENTS
Poetics
Biographical Afterword
Poetics
1
Our subject being Poetry, I propose to speak not only of the art in general but also of its species and their respective capacities; of the structure of plot required for a good poem; of the number and nature of the constituent parts of a poem; and likewise of any other matters in the same line of inquiry. Let us follow the natural order and begin with the primary facts.
Epic poetry and Tragedy, as also Comedy, Dithyrambic poetry, and most flute-playing and lyre-playing, are all, viewed as a whole, modes of imitation. But at the same time they differ from one another in three ways, either by a difference of kind in their means, or by differences in the objects, or in the manner of their imitations.
I. Just as form and colour are used as means by some, who (whether by art or constant practice) imitate and portray many things by their aid, and the voice is used by others; so also in the above-mentioned group of arts, the means with them as a whole are rhythm, language, and harmony—used, however, either singly or in certain combinations. A combination of rhythm and harmony alone is the means in flute-playing and lyre-playing, and any other arts there may be of the same description, e.g. imitative piping. Rhythm alone, without harmony, is the means in the dancer’s imitations; for even he, by the rhythms of his attitudes, may represent men’s characters, as well as what they do and suffer. There is further an art which imitates by language alone, without harmony, in prose or in verse, and if in verse, either in some one or in a plurality of metres. This form of imitation is to this day without a name. We have no common name for a mime of Sophron or Xenarchus and a Socratic Conversation; and we should still be without one even if the imitation in the two instances were in trimeters or elegiacs or some other kind of verse—though it is the way with people to tack on ‘poet’ to the name of a metre, and talk of elegiac-poets and epic-poets, thinking that they call them poets not by reason of the imitative nature of their work, but indiscriminately by reason of the metre they write in. Even if a theory of medicine or physical philosophy be put forth in a metrical form, it is usual to describe the writer in this way; Homer and Empedocles, however, have really nothing in common apart from their metre; so that, if the one is to be called a poet, the other should be termed a physicist rather than a poet. We should be in the same position also, if the imitation in these instances were in all the metres, like the Centaur (a rhapsody in a medley of all metres) of Chaeremon; and Chaeremon one has to recognize as a poet. So much, then, as to these arts. There are, lastly, certain other arts, which combine all the means enumerated, rhythm, melody, and verse, e.g. Dithyrambic and Nomic poetry, Tragedy and Comedy; with this difference, however, that the three kinds of means are in some of them all employed together, and in others brought in separately, one after the other. These elements of difference in the above arts I term the means of their imitation.
2
II. The objects the imitator represents are actions, with agents who are necessarily either good men or bad—the diversities of human character being nearly always derivative from this primary distinction, since the line between virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind. It follows, therefore, that the agents represented must be either above our own level of goodness, or beneath it, or just such as we are in the same way as, with the painters, the personages of Polygnotus are better than we are, those of Pauson worse, and those of Dionysius just like ourselves. It is clear that each of the above-mentioned arts will admit of these differences, and that it will become a separate art by representing objects with this point of difference. Even in dancing, flute-playing, and lyre-playing such diversities are possible; and they are also possible in the nameless art that uses language, prose or verse without harmony, as its means; Homer’s personages, for instance, are better than we are; Cleophon’s are on our own level; and those of Hegemon of Thasos, the first writer of parodies, and Nicochares, the author of the Diliad, are beneath it.