An Outline of Poetics
In this introductory chapter, Aristotle makes a plan to deal with different critical concepts to be discussed in the subsequent chapters. Here, he introduces one important thing that epic poetry, tragedy, comedy and dithyrambic poetry, and the music of the flute and of the lyre in most of their forms, are all in their general modes of imitation.
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
By this, he stresses that one is, different from other in terms of the modes of imitation (i.e. medium, manner and object). Here Aristotle has talked about tragedy, epic poetry, comedy and lyric poetry. All these (epic, tragedy and comedy etc.) differ one another in three respects: (a) the medium (b) the objects (c) the manner or mode of imitation. But the idea is that imitation is common to all forms (tragedy, music, dancing, sculpture etc.). In poetry, the medium of imitation is the use of words while in painting the shades of colors. Poetry and painting thus differ in the medium of imitation.
Chapter two is devoted to defining imitation, revealing its nature, discussing its kinds, and considering its importance in the creative arts. Therefore, he goes further to discuss the modes of imitation. The second mode (the first being medium) in which the genres differ is the object of imitation. Poetry takes its object from the human action. In doing so tragedy differs from comedy because the former imitates serious actions and the latter imitates comic actions. Thus, tragedy and comedy differ in their object of imitation.
Chapter three treats the third mode of imitation in which the genres differ. Tragedy and Epic both imitate serious human action (they are therefore same in the object of imitation). Both tragedy and epic appear in words (medium of the imitation, therefore is the same). The question arises: are they same? It is not so. Aristotle creates a third mode of imitation i.e. the manner of imitation. The manner of imitation varies from one literary genre to another. Tragedy is different from epic in the manner. Tragedy predominantly appears in dialogues while epic predominantly in narratives.
Chapter four deals with the origin and development of poetry. Poetry comes into the being because of two reasons: firstly, man has the instinct of imitation from early childhood, and secondly, man always wants the incomplete nature to be in his favour by making it harmonious and lovely. Mythical stories prominent in epic forms are the earliest human expressions. In reality, there are two important tendencies that result in tragedy and comedy. Homer excelled in both veins: Homer's Iliad is pertaining to comedy while Odyssey is pertaining to tragedy. And the further developments are observable along the same line. Tragedy goes back to the dithyrambic chorus of the satyrs and the comedy to the phallic songs and dance.
In chapter five Aristotle compares comedy, tragedy and epic among each other. Comedy, as he traces in the earlier book also, is an artistic imitation of men of an inferior moral bent: it is an imitation of characters of a lower type. The characters have some defect or ugliness, which is not painful or destructive. It has no clear history regarding its origin, though its history takes us to Sicily and Athens to be the first places where it originated and the poets writing this form would use personal satires.
Epic has much in common with tragedy insofar as the object and the medium of imitation are concerned. They differ in the following respects:
- In the medium and the manner of imitation there is a difference: Epic employs one and the same metre throughout while tragedy does not.
- Epic does not observe the concept of time, place and action. Aristotle talks more about the unity of action, less about the time and nothing about the place.
- Epic is predominantly narrative in nature.
Epic poetry agrees with tragedy insofar as it is an imitation in verse and employs the characters of a higher type. Epic poetry is narrative in form, and has no limitation of time. But tragedy should not exceed the time limit of a single revolution of the sun. All the elements of an epic poem are found in tragedy, but the elements of a tragedy are not found in the epic poem.
In chapter six Aristotle gives a broader definition of tragedy. This definition is known as the formal one: Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude. The language is embellished with all kinds of artistic ornaments. There are several parts in the tragedy and that enact the human action. Ultimately, it is able to purge the pity and fear of the audience.
He discusses the parts or the elements of tragedy that include plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. But the most important thing in tragedy is its structure of the incidents, for tragedy is an imitation not of man, but of an action and life, and the life consists of action (i.e. the dramatic action). The most important emotional interest lies in tragedy. Plot he says is the soul of tragedy that needs a proper structuring.
In chapter seven there, should be a definite beginning, the middle and the ending of the plot. It should be so because the beauty depends on magnitude and order. A certain length, that is memorable, is needed. The sequences of the events should happen according to the law of probability or the necessity. It should always admit a change from good to bad or vice versa. Thus, he stresses the unity of action.
Aristotle now discusses the unity of the actions in chapter eight. All the events and the actions that are there in the tragedy should be interrelated. They should create the organic whole. For a thing whose presence and the absence makes no visible difference, is not an organic part of the whole.
His chapter nine is oriented toward revealing the function of the writers. The writers are expected to include not what had happened, but what may happen according to the law of probability. From this point, Aristotle says that poetry is more philosophical and higher than history, for poetry tends to express the universal while history the particular. The poet is the creator and the maker more of the plot than of the verse since he is a poet because he imitates, and the imitation is always of the actions. If the surprise is used, it heightens the effect.
In chapter ten Aristotle classifies the plot which can be of two types: one is simple and the other is the complex. Simple plot includes less reversal and therefore the least amount of the surprise while the complex plot is accompanied by the reversals.
The same conception discussed in the tenth chapter is further described in chapter eleven. The reversal of the situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite. He names it Peripetia and says that it is caused by a kind of recognition (discovery i.e. anagnorisis). This recognition like in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, should be from the ignorance to knowledge. It helps writer lead his audience to the pity and fear. The scenes of suffering are needed, but the onstage violence is harmful. So, the scenes of suffering and violence (murder, rape etc.) should happen offstage and are to be narrated (as the suicide of Jokasta and the self-torture of Oedipus happen offstage, and are narrated).
Chapter twelve discusses about the six elements of tragedy: prologue, epilogue, exode, choric song, parode and stasimon. The latter two are treated inclusively under song (thus only four elements). Prologue is the first narration that establishes a mood for the dramatic discourse; epilogue relates what happens when the last scene of tragedy takes over; exode is related to what follows the last choric song; parode is the first whole statement of the chorus and the stasimon is the song sung by chorus without trochee and anapest. Choric song includes both stasimon and parode, and also other if any.
Chapter thirteen discusses about Tragedy which aims at bringing catharsis on the side of the audience. Therefore, a perfect tragedy has a complex plan like in Oedipus Rex: it demands a single plot. In chapter fourteen Aristotle, defines catharsis. It is the kind of effect tragedy brings on the audience. Catharsis is a Greek word that means purgation in English. He gives this definition in chapter seven also. A bulk of interpretation is devoted to elucidate what Aristotle meant by this term. The sentence appears in his Poetics as, "Tragedy through pity and fear effects a purgation of such emotions." It seems that it is a therapeutic effect that is equivalent to a sense of release from tension that comes after the storm and climax.
In chapter fifteen, Aristotle discusses the characters. According to him, the character should be good, appropriate, realistic and consistent. They should be true to life.
In chapter sixteen, he discusses the discovery or recognition. Recognition according to him is of six types or discovery in the drama is created by six ways: (1) by marks or token (2) by arbitrary (3) through memory (4) by inference (5) by fancy (devil) by action. The best of all discoveries, however, is that which arises from the action itself. Fancied discovery is caused by sophisticated deception.
Chapter seventeen contains the practical advice to the author. According to Aristotle, when the poet constructs his plot and engages himself on the diction, he should remember to keep the actual scenes as far as possible and to act their story with the very gesture of his personages. He should simplify his plot first and should reduce it to a universal form. He suggests to avoid incongruities in the action, and to succeed in delineating emotion.
In chapter eighteen, he talks about the two parts of the plot: complication and denouement. By complication, he means all from the beginning of the story to the point just before the change in the hero's fortunes and by the denouement, all from the beginning of the change to the end. According to the source of tragic effect, he further talks about the four types of tragedies: (1) tragedy of the plot (2) tragedy of suffering (3) tragedy of the characters (4) tragedy of spectacle. In chapter nineteen, he talks about thought. The thought of persons in the play is shown in all that must be affected by their language.
Chapter twenty describes about proper diction which is related to the art of poetry. It is made of the following parts: (1) the letter (2) the primary combination of letters (3) connective particle (4) the separate article (5) the noun (devil) the verb (7) the inflection (music) the speech or unified utterance.
Chapter twenty one is about the poetical use of words and metaphors. Noun must always either be (1) the ordinary word for thing or (2) a strange word or (3) the metaphor or (4) ornamental word or (5) a coined word or (devil) a word lengthened out or (7) curtailed or (music) altered in form.
Chapter twenty two contains Aristotle's notion of style. According to him, the style should be clear, and not pedestrian. The clearest style is made up of common words, but contradictorily, he takes it as pedestrian. He mentions the ways to use ornaments of style. Chapter twenty three includes his concepts that the epic poetry is like a tragedy in structure. In chapter twenty -four, he says epic resembles tragedy in many aspects. But he says that the epic differs from tragedy more in length and metre.
In chapter twenty-five, he talks about the criticism and errors that touch the poetic art. Poetry does not always present the truth. He further discusses the bad critics and contradictions in language. Chapter twenty six contains the general problem; which one is greater whether the epic or the tragedy. For Aristotle, tragedy is superior in many aspects, which is more inclusive, compact and effective than epic.
