Bridge course : Aristotle's poetics

 Here I am writing a blog as a part of my thinking activity. This task was given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. This blog is about Aristotle's poetic.

Aristotle :-

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics

Poetics:-

Poetics is not a mere enunciation of the principles of the poetic art. Its conclusions are firmly rooted in Greek Literature.

Poetics is a treatise of about fifty pages containing twenty six small chapters. It gives the impression of being a summary of his lectures to his pupils, written either by them or by himself. It is believed to have a second part, which is lost. For it is incomplete and omits some of the important questions he himself raises which were reserved for a fuller treatment in the second part.

The first four chapters and the twenty-fifth are devoted to poetry, the fifth in a general way to comedy, epic, and tragedy, the following fourteen exclusively to tragedy, the next three to poetic diction, the next two to epic poetry, and last to a comparison of epic poetry and tragedy. Aristotle’s main concern appears to be tragedy, which in his day, was considered to be the most developed form of poetry.

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy :-

"A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;… in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions."

These six elements can be organised, as Aristotle shows, under the major categories of medium, object, and mode:

Objects

Plot (Mythos) :-

Emphasising 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 characterization, 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 ( Ethos) :-

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 through the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist.

Thought (Dianoia) :-

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.

Media

Diction ( Lexis) :-

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

Song ( Melos) :-

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.

Mode

Spectacle ( Opsis) :-

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.

Thank you!