He defines poetry as an art that imitates: “ imitation . . . is one instinct of our nature” and “the objects of imitation are men in action.” He considers “Comedy . . . an imitation of characters of a lower type;” tragedy is “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude;” Aristotle ...
What according to Aristotle are the kinds of poetry?
Aristotle divided poetry into three main categories: epic, tragic, and comedic . These three genres can then be further separated into several sub-genres. In Poetics, Aristotle describes epic poetry as being a narrative form of poetry that contains a central plot.
How does Aristotle defend poetry?
Aristotle's answer to these charges is that poetry is not reality but a higher reality , what ought to be not what is. Poetry gives not reality but the idea of reality in the poet's mind. Poetry rather gives us Ideal reality. The rules of ordinary experience do not govern the higher creation of poetry.
What did Aristotle say about art and poetry?
Aristotle argues that history is only concerned with specific instances while poetry deals with “basic human, and therefore universal, experience.” Aristotle reasons that “poetry ... is a more philosophical and higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular” (Stumpf, p 99).
Why does Aristotle argue that poetry is higher than history?
Aristotle's Observation on Poetry as being More Philosophical Than History. According to Aristotle, because in order to unfold a plot in a manner that is convincing to the audience, the poet must grasp and represent the internal logic, the necessity , of the outcome of those events.
What is Aristotle's concept of catharsis?
Catharsis, the purification or purgation of the emotions (especially pity and fear) primarily through art. ... Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is to arouse “terror and pity” and thereby effect the catharsis of these emotions.
What is mimesis according to Aristotle?
Mimesis, basic theoretical principle in the creation of art. The word is Greek and means “imitation” (though in the sense of “re-presentation” rather than of “copying”). ... Aristotle, speaking of tragedy, stressed the point that it was an “imitation of an action”—that of a man falling from a higher to a lower estate.
What is the soul of poetry according to Aristotle?
Aristotle divides the art of poetry into verse drama (to include comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play), lyric poetry, and epic. The genres all share the function of mimesis, or imitation of life, but differ in three ways that Aristotle describes: Differences in music rhythm, harmony, meter and melody .
What is the purpose of poetry according to Aristotle?
What is the chief function of poetry, according to Aristotle? – According to Aristotle, the chief function of poetry is to give pleasure to the reader . In his “Poetics” Aristotle says that imitation, harmony and rhythm of poetry are made for pleasure.
What are the six elements of Aristotle's Poetics?
The 6 Aristotelean elements are plot, character, thought, diction, spectacle, and song .
What is the highest form of poetry according to Aristotle?
Aristotle identifies tragedy as the most refined version of poetry dealing with lofty matters and comedy as the most refined version of poetry dealing with base matters. He traces a brief and speculative history of tragedy as it evolved from dithyrambic hymns in praise of the god Dionysus.
How did Aristotle argue in favor of the poet?
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 . ... Aristotle answers this argument by noting that the melodrama and overacting are faults of the performance and not of the tragic poet himself.
What is Aristotle's view on art?
According to Aristotle, art is an attempt to grasp at universal truths in individual happenstances . Aristotle took a particular interest in tragedy through art, which he described as an imitation of action. It creates a treatment for the more unbearable passions we hold in our minds.
How does Aristotle compares poetry with history?
Poetry is more “philosophical” than history, according to Aristotle, because in order to unfold a plot in a manner that is convincing to the audience, the poet must grasp and represent the internal logic , the necessity, of the outcome of those events.
What is according to Aristotle?
It is commonly thought that virtues , according to Aristotle, are habits and that the good life is a life of mindless routine. ... These interpretations of Aristotle's ethics are the result of imprecise translations from the ancient Greek text. Aristotle uses the word hexis to denote moral virtue.
Who invented mimesis?
Dionysian imitatio is the influential literary method of imitation as formulated by Greek author Dionysius of Halicarnassus in the 1st century BCE, who conceived it as technique of rhetoric: emulating, adapting, reworking, and enriching a source text by an earlier author.
