Thinking Activity

Thinking Activity:

Here i am writing a blog as a part of Thinking activity. In this blog i   write about Aristotle's Poetics.

Aristotle Poetic 

Aristotle's Poetics begins with the definition of imitation. He thinks that poet is a creator, not a mere recording device (imitator). He/she creates things and teaches us to see something in his creation that we never saw before. For Aristotle, imitation is productive action. Imitation does not mean the sort of mimicry. It is the imitation of action, and action does not mean mere happenings.

Action signifies only to what consciously chosen and capable of finding completion in the achievement of some purpose. Imitation is the reproduction through imagination. It is a powerful human communication and the thing imitated is something that defines human realm. If there is no imitation, life is mere oblivion without traces. Aristotle states, "Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature". Therefore, imitation is not a low kind of business as Plato says. Dramatic poetry is a natural mode of imitation through language, rhythm and music.

Over the years the Poetics has been both praised and disparaged. Some critics object to Aristotle's theory of poetics and regret that the work has held such sway in the history of Western literature. One contemporary critic argues that Aristotle "reduces drama to its language," and the "language itself to its least poetic element, the story, and then encourages insensitive readers...to subject stories to crudely moralistic readings that reduce tragedies to the childish proportions of Aesop-fables" (Sachs 1). Other critics have argued against such views and reclaimed the Poetics for their own times; often these critics emphasize the importance of reading the Poetics in its historical context - it was, after all, written an awfully long time ago - and stress that despite this historical barrier the insights contained in the work still hold true. Whichever side of the debate you end up on, it is important when studying the Poetics to take time to decode its dense text. The Poetics is widely considered one of Aristotle's most demanding but rewarding texts, requiring commitment in its study, but offering profound returns to the diligent reader.

Aristotle's ''Poetics'', differentiates many kinds of poetry. He also explained that the poetry has different structure of a good poem and division of a poem, its component parts. He defines poetry as a 'medium of imitation' that represents non-real life through character, emotion, or action. He illustrates poetry in a very profound ways, including epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and even some kind of music.Mainly in his book Aristotle wrote about three main forms :

1, Epic

2,Tragedy

3, Comedy

Firstly he wrote about poetry. And qualities and structure of poetry, and also noted that how to divide poetry in various parts. He give one vary famous definition of poetry,

"Poetry is an art of imitation".

 In other words, as per many documents in the history of philosophy and literary theory, Aristotle wrote ''Poetics''. He adopted two major works, they are:

1. Rhetoric

2. Poetics

Aristotle's defense to Plato's theory of 'Mimesis':

   In Plato's theory of 'Mimesis', he says that all art is mimetic by nature. In other words, art is an imitation of life; it is nearer to ultimate reality. Thus, to explain this idea he gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. He believed that art is twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to philosophy, because it deals with the ideas and poetry deals with illusion-all these things which are twice removed from reality. So that he believed that art is twice removed from reality. In short Plato rejected poetry as it is mimetic in nature on the moral and philosophical virtues. Aristotle who believes that poetry as it is mimetic nature. He gives his views that poetry is an imitation of an action, and he neither in favor of philosophical nor moral.

Aristotle gives the definition of tragedy

   '' Tragedy , is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of certain magnitude; in the language embellished each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play ; in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgative-catharsis of these and similar emotions''.

Poetry as Imitation

The first scandal in the Poetics is the initial marking out of dramatic poetry as a form of imitation. We call the poet a creator, and are offended at the suggestion that he might be merely some sort of recording device. As the painter’s eye teaches us how to look and shows us what we never saw, the dramatist presents things that never existed until he imagined them, and makes us experience worlds we could never have found the way to on our own. But Aristotle has no intention to diminish the poet, and in fact says the same thing I just said, in making the point that poetry is more philosophic than history. By imitation, Aristotle does not mean the sort of mimicry by which Aristophanes, say, finds syllables that approximate the sound of frogs. He is speaking of the imitation of action, and by action he does not mean mere happenings. Aristotle speaks extensively of praxis in the Nicomachean Ethics. It is not a word he uses loosely, and in fact his use of it in the definition of tragedy recalls the discussion in the Ethics.

Following his definition, Aristotle begins to introduce the six constitutive components of a tragedy. The first in the discussion is spectacle, which includes the costuming of the actors, the scenery, and all other aspects that contribute to the visual experience of the play.

The Elements of Tragedy

Aristotle presents these components in order of importance, expanding a little on the significance of each to the tragedy as a whole.

Plot

Emphasizing that tragedy is first and foremost the representation of actions, and not of characters, Aristotle makes the remark that many contemporary tragedies do not succeed in their characterizations, but are still tragedies. The tragic effect comes from the plot, and especially from the peripeteia–the reversal of the situation in which the characters find themselves– as well as from scenes of recognition.

Character

Character is second in importance after plot; tragedies depict characters as they relate to the action which is the main object of representation. Characters represent their moral qualities throught the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist.

Thought 

 Thought comprises both the rational processes through which characters come to decisions, as represented in the drama, as well as the values put forward in the form of maxims and proverbs.

Diction

Diction has already been defined as the metrical composition of the play, the way language is used to convey the representation.

Song

Music is described as an embellishment of language. The lines assigned to the chorus in a tragedy are usually conveyed in song accompanied by rhythmical movement.

Spectacle

Aristotle lists spectacle last in order of importance, pointing out that the power of tragedy is not fully dependent upon its performance (we can read a tragedy and still appreciate its message), and that the art of the spectacle really belongs to the set designer and not to the poet.

Aristotle Compares epic and Tragedy

Aristotle’s view of Epic

After thoroughly discussing six component parts of tragedy, Aristotle concludes the Poetics by reflecting on the questions:

• "Which is better genre of literature, tragedy or epic?"

• “Which is the higher form of literature, tragedy or epic poetry?”

The argument in favor of epic poetry is based on the principle that the higher art form is less vulgar and addressed toward a refined audience. Tragedy is performed before large audiences, which results in melodramatic performances or overacting to please the crowds. Epic poetry is more cultivated than tragedy because it does not rely on acting/gesture at all to convey its message.

Aristotle's view of Tragedy

All art is representation (imitation) of life, but none can represent life in its totality. Therefore, an artist has to be selective in representation. He must aim at representing or imitating an aspect of life or a fragment of life.

Action comprises of all human activities including deeds, thoughts and feelings. (so, soliloquies, chorus etc is also Action).The writer of ‘tragedy’ seeks to imitate the serious side of life just as a writer of ‘comedy’ seeks to imitate only the shallow and superficial side. The tragic section presented on the stage in a drama should be complete or self contained with a beginning, middle and an end. A beginning is that before which the audience or the reader does not need to be told anything to understand the story.

The language of our daily affairs is not useful here because tragedy has to present a heightened picture of life’s serious side, and that is possible only if elevated language of poetry is used. According to need, the writer makes use of songs, poetry, poetic dialogue, simple conversation etc is various parts of the play.

Aristotle answers this argument by noting that the melodrama and overacting are faults of the performance and not of the tragic poet himself. The recital of epic poetry could similarly be overdone without reflecting poorly on the poet. Further, not all movement is bad—take dance, for instance—but only poorly executed movement. Also, tragedy does not need to be performed; it can be read, just like epic poetry, and all its merits will still be evident.

Further, he advances several reasons for considering tragedy superior. First, it has all the elements of an epic poem and has also music and spectacle, which the epic lacks.

Second, simply reading the play without performing it is already very potent.

Third, tragedy is shorter, suggesting that it is more compact and will have a more concentrated effect.

Fourth, there is more unity in tragedy, as evidenced by the fact that a number of tragedies can be extracted from one epic poem.

Aristotle concludes by suggesting that different genres produce different kinds of pleasure. The pleasure of the epic lies in its episodic, diverting story, while the more intense–and "higher" in terms of social value–pleasure produced by the tragedy is catharsis, the mysterious "purging" of our emotions of pity and fear when we witness the unfolding of a tragedy.