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Aristotle Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics outlines his views on tragedy and its key elements. The plot, rather than characters, is the most important part of tragedy. An ideal plot should be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, featuring events of a certain magnitude that evoke pity and fear in the audience. Aristotle also discusses catharsis and unity of action, plot, character, thought, diction, and melody in tragedy. His views on comedy are not well documented as the relevant sections are lost.

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423 views8 pages

Aristotle Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics outlines his views on tragedy and its key elements. The plot, rather than characters, is the most important part of tragedy. An ideal plot should be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, featuring events of a certain magnitude that evoke pity and fear in the audience. Aristotle also discusses catharsis and unity of action, plot, character, thought, diction, and melody in tragedy. His views on comedy are not well documented as the relevant sections are lost.

Uploaded by

slee10
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Poetics

Christine Lee
Core Concepts
• Imitation: reproduction
of human situations and
events
• Catharsis: purgatory
power of tragedy
• Unity: six components
into an organic whole

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldonliner/179379698/
Influence on Literature & Arts

• Impressions of fate
• Characters are
secondary to the whole
system of order

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yelnoc/515719778/
Views on Plot
• Plot is the first principle, the
“soul of a tragedy”
• Characters are not as important
as the plot
• Defined as the arrangement of
incidents, or the structure of the
play… not the story itself
• Must be “whole”
– Beginning: incentive moment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36011007@N04/3949271372/
– Middle: climax
– End: resolution
Views on Plot
• Must be “complete,” having
“unity of action”
– No deux ex machina
– No coincidences
• Must be “of a certain
magnitude”
– In length, complexity
– In universal significance

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36011007@N04/3949271372/
Views on Comedy
• The chapters about
comedy have been lost
• Represents men as
worse than in actual life
• Dramatizes the
ludicrous
• Emerged from festivals
for the god Dionysus http://www.flickr.com/photos/bridgy2008/3038154799/
Works Cited
• Aristotle. Poetics. N. pag. The Internet Classics Archive. Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
1994. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://classics.mit.edu/‌Aristotle/‌poetics.1.1.html>.
• Bradley, A. C. “Shakespearean Tragedy.” Don King’s Literature Page. Montreat College, 11 Feb.
2008. Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://www.montreat.edu/‌dking/‌Shakespeare/‌TRAGEDY.htm>.
• Halliwell, Stephen. “Poetics of Aristotle.” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Upper Merion
Area High School Lib, King of Prussia, PA, 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.
<http://gme.grolier.com/‌article?assetid=0231120-0>.
• McManus, Barbara F. “Outline of Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy in Poetics.” CLS 236: Greek
Tragedy. The College of New Rochelle, Nov. 1999. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<http://www2.cnr.edu/‌home/‌bmcmanus/‌poetics.html>.
• Soll, Ivan, Ph.D. “Aristotle.” World Book Student. Upper Merion Area High School Lib, King of
Prussia, PA, 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/‌student/‌article?
id=ar029880>.
• Workman, John Rowe. “Poetics.” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Upper Merion Area High
School Lib, King of Prussia, PA, 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://ea.grolier.com/‌article?
id=0316630-00>.
Works Cited: Pictures
• Dionysus Golden Grapes, Get Up “High”... 17 Nov. 2008. Flickr. N.p., 17 Nov.
2008. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌bridgy2008/‌3038154799/>.
• First Example of Seurat Painting Photo. 1 July 2006. Flickr. N.p., 1 July 2006.
Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌oldonliner/‌179379698/>.
• Lunar Circle, Complete Eclipse. 28 Aug. 2007. Flickr. N.p., 5 Sept. 2007. Web. 3
Feb. 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌36011007@N04/‌3949271372/>.
• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (1 + 1 = 3). 23 Sept. 2009. Flickr.
N.p., 23 Sept. 2009. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌36011007@N04/‌3949271372/>.
• William Shakespeare - Text Portrait. 27 May 2007. Flickr. N.p., 27 May 2007.
Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌yelnoc/‌515719778/>.

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