LITERARY CRITICISM
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing ( Aristotle )
people say that john Dryden is the first critic who introduced literary criticism in English.
but john Dryden himself says that Aristotle is the first critic.
Was born at Stagira, a Greek colonial town in 384 B.C., and died in 322 B.C .62 years age
Was a Greek philosopher, logician, moralist, political thinker, biologist, and the founder of literary criticism.
His father ‘’ Nichomachus” had acted as Court Physician to Amyntas II king of Macedon.
Since Aristotle was the son of a physician, we may perhaps attribute to this fact the interest which showed in physiological and zoological studies.
After the death of his father his uncle ‘’ proxenus’’ brought him up. At the age of seventeen, his uncle sent him to Plato's academy in Athens
He was a student of Plato. Plato died in 347 bc.
He joined Plato's academy in Athens at the age of seventeen.
He remained at Plato's academy for twenty years.
He also served as the head of the academy of Macedon.
He established a school at Athens of his own, known as the Lyceum in 335 B.C. He ran it for twelve years. This school is often called the peripatetic school, ( peripatetic who walk around), Aristotle used to like walking around and discussed his ideas with his colleagues.
Aristotle’s writings were preserved by his student ‘’ Theophrastus’’, his successor as leader of the peripatetic school.
He was the teacher of Alexander the Great.
Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics, and zoology.
He also studied education, foreign customs, literature, and poetry.
His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.
He is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.
His writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of western philosophy.
Three stages of the life of Aristotle
• Firstly, Aristotle worked in the philosophic school of Plato, the Academy at Athen, for twenty years from the age of 17 to that of 37 (367-347). This period comes to an end with the death of Plato.
• Secondly, there is the period that covers the dozen years from the age 37 to that of (347-335). During this period he remained at Assus. This period comes to an end with the accession of his pupil Alexender to the throne of Macedonia.
• Finally, there is a second period of work in Athens, when he had been running the peripatetic school in the Lyceum. This period covers, roughly, another dozen years of his life, from the age of 49 to that of 62 (335-322), and ends with his retirement to Chalcis and his death.
His works
About 400 volumes to his credit.
More important of his works are
• Dialogues
• On Monarchy
• Natural
• History
• Organon
• Logic
• Physics
• Metaphysics
• politics
• Nicomachean ethics
• Magna Moralia
• Eudemian ethics
• Or virtues and vices
• Politics
• Rhetoric
• Rhetoric to Alexander
The Poetics
Introduction
F.E Lucas says: ‘’ even today, ‘ the Poetics ‘ continues to be studied and prescribed as a textbook in schools and colleges all over the world, from California to Calcutta’’
T.S Eliot is right when he calls Aristotle a man of ‘’ universal intelligence’’
A book whose influence has been continuous and universal.
First thoroughly philosophical discussion of literature.
It is an exposition of the principles of literary criticism, as valid for Shakespeare and Milton, as it was for homer and Sophocles.
Worldwide popularity
Aristotle’s attitude is cool and objective as a scientist. He is the first scientific critic.
It is a textbook of practical instructions and guidance.
It was written in 330 b.c.
26 chapters 45 pages
It does not seem to be a work intended for publication.
It does not say much about comedy.
It touches briefly on the epic,
and the renowned concept of catharsis has not been fully developed or explained
the poetics as we have now are not complete
It was the reaction of Plato's book ‘’ The Republic’’. Plato was a student of Socrates. Plato was against poetry and Aristotle defended the poets and poetry in his book ‘’ poetics.
Theatre has its roots in ancient Greece.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle studied earlier plays as was as those of his time and developed his rules for the composition of tragedy.
Aristotle established these guidelines in his work ‘’Poetics “ around 330 B.C, believed that philosophy was superior to everything, and philosophers were the only people who could be beneficial for the country and the nation.
He thought that literature and art were useless because they distorted reality.
Plato was against poets and playwrights and dreamed of ejecting them from his country. Plato said that poets not only lie but lie in an ugly fashion.
Aristotle stands out as the pioneer of the tradition of defending poetry against the hostile criticism that condemns it for presenting the appearance, not the reality of life.
defects of poetics
It is like the class notes of an intelligent teacher and has certain obvious defects.
• The handling of the subject is disproportionate.
• Lyric poetry has been practically ignored
• This work was not publication
• Often there are signs of hesitation and uncertainty in the use of terminology
• Larger part of the discussion is devoted to the tragedy
• Style is telegraphic and highly concentrated.
• Aristotle‘s theories are based exclusively on Greek poetry and drama with which he was familiar.
According to Aristotle, Tragedy is
Aristotle is the first critic in the history of literary criticism who has put up a comprehensive concept of tragedy in his famous treatise ‘’ The Poetics’’.
Aristotle has defined tragedy as
‘’ the imitation of an action that is serious, has magnitude and is complete in itself in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic not in a narrative form with incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.’’
Aristotle defines the following seven characteristics for a comprehensive tragedy.
• Mimesis, Imitation, It should be mimetic. The tragedy is an imitation of action
The first thing we notice in the definition is that tragedy like other creative art is imitative in the creative sense of the word.
Plato’s point of view about imitation
Plato was the first conscious literary critic who has systematically put his ideas in his Dialogues. He was born in 427 B.C. his relations were known to Socrates, and Plato was introduced to the great philosopher when he was a young boy. He first started writing poems, but destroyed them under the influence of Socrates and became actively interested in philosophy and mathematics. He founded his academy in 387 b.c
The term imitation was coined by Plato to play down the importance of poetry and other fine arts in the social order of the state.
Plato was an idealist. He believed that ideas alone are true and real and earthly things whereas beauty, goodness, justice are mere types or copies of the ideal beauty, goodness, etc which exist in heaven. He regards imitation as mere nemesis or representation of these ideal forms and expressions, which is creative. Plato believed that the phenomenal world is but an objectification of the ideal world.
As such the ideal world is real whereas the phenomenal world which is always undergoing change is unreal.
The poet simply imitates the phenomenal world as simply the appearance of the real world.
The poet presents not the reality but the appearance of reality.
As such poetry is an imitation of reality, and is, thus, twice removed from reality.
To substantiate ( mazboot Karna) this theory Plato quotes painting as an example which is one of the fine arts like poetry. He argues that a painting made of a chair does not present reality because the chair was first made by the carpenter which is also an imitation of the idea of the real chair in his mind. Hence, the painter who has painted the chair has given a copy of the copy of idea of the real chair which is present in the finality. Like the painter, the poet also copies the appearance of reality because the world he presents in his poetry consists of appearances and unsubstantial images of the reality which lies behind them.
Aristotle’s concept of imitation
Aristotle has also defined poetry as a kind of imitation but he has given it a new meaning.
Contrary ( takranay wala ) to Plato's view of poetry as a mere act of servile copying of visible objects of nature.
Aristotle regards imitation in the case of poetry as an act of imaginative creation.
It means that the poet draws the poetic material from the phenomenal world, and creates something new out of it by his creative imagination.
Thus, poetry according to Aristotle is an imitation of the ideal reality not the external aspects of things.
It is not the imitation in the sense of the Platonic mode of imitation.
Rejecting the role ascribed to poetry by Plato, his own teacher, he upholds the creative representation of life or nature as the only role of poetry.
In keeping with this view, poetry does not copy the appearance of the phenomenal world like a camera but brings out the inner reality of the poetic subject through the creative process which goes in the creative mind of the poet.
Imitation does not mean that any tragedian imitates the serious action which is the plot or the object of tragedy in the sense of common means of imitation.
In fact, the tragedian recreates his subject, he usually borrows from history or tradition or legend but rarely from real contemporary life.
He keeps in view that his dramatic treatment is not a slavish copy of it as suggested by Plato but a reproduction of it conforming to the principles of universal truth.
The second important point of this part is the imitation of an action. The second important feature of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is action. It means the action of a rational human being who thinks and wills and this action is the subject of imitation.
• Serious, It should be serious. Tragedy according to Aristotle is a serious drama representing the serious actions of comparatively better people than the average one in real life...
• Complete
• Of significant magnitude It should tell a full story of an appropriate length
• It should be in a language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work. He indicates that tragedy should be expressed in poetry. Depicted with rhythmic language and/or song, Rhythm and harmony should occur in different combinations in different parts of the tragedy.
Aristotle has given equal importance to the vital use of embellishments in different parts of tragedy. Hence, in keeping with established practice, tragedy imitates through a verse in dialogue and through song in chorus, which comments on the tragic action. In this way, the use of verse and song not only beautifies and elucidates the tragic action but also pleases the spectators. The tragedian has to be careful that the choric parts do not appear irrelevant to the plot. Aristotle has criticized Euripides on the ground that his choruses are often irrelevant to the plots.
• It should be performed rather than narrated. in the form of action (not narrative), he means that the lines must be acted, not simply read.
• Catharsis (ventilation of the emotions of pity and fear is the primary object of tragedy. it produces a ‘’purgation of pity and fear in the audience ( also known as catharsis). It should arouse feelings of pity and fear and then purge these feelings through catharsis.
Aristotle argues that tragic poetry ( tragic plays) contributes a lot to the mental and emotional health of people by providing catharsis or ventilation to their pent-up emotions particularly those of pity and fear and thus relieve their minds of morbidity and aggressiveness resulting from emotional expression.
Catharsis has been proclaimed by Aristotle as the function of tragedy.
It seems to suggest the restoration of emotional balance in the spectator through exciting emotions of pity and fear in him and giving an outlet to their excess.
According to Aristotle, it is essential for catharsis that a son kills his father, a mother kills his son or a brother kills his brother.
There are three types of catharsis 1. Of body 2. Of heart 3. Of mind
Aristotle has mentioned this word only once in ‘’ The Poetics’’ without explaining its connotation. Since Aristotle has not elucidated the term ‘’ catharsis’’, different interpretation has been made of it by critics.
Some calls it ‘’ purgation’’( ikhraaj ya safai)
Some calls it ‘’ purification ( pure Karna )
Some calls it ‘’ clarification’’
The debate among celebrated critics is still continuing on catharsis and the final opinion has yet to be expected.
With the above in mind, Aristotle lays out the six formative parts that define a tragedy.
• Muthos, Plot definition of a plot
Aristotle’s definition of the plot( a plot is ‘’ a complete whole, with beginning middle and end, not too minute. Nor yet too vast.
Elements of plot
1 include completeness ( completeness refers to the necessity of a tragedy to have a beginning, middle, and end. A ‘’beginning is defined as an origin by which something naturally comes to be. An end meanwhile, follows another incident by necessity but has nothing necessarily following it. The ‘’ middle’’ follows something just as something must follow it.
2 magnitude ( it refers simply to the length. The tragedy must be of a length that can be easily embraced by the memory. Aristotle believes that the longer a tragedy, the more beautiful it can be. It contains the beginning, middle, and end and with these three elements, it presents a change from good to bad or bad to good.
3 unity ( it refers to the centering of all the plots action, the common theme of the idea
4 determinate structure ( it refers to the fact that the plot all hinges on a sequence of casual, imitative events, Matlab tarteeb)
5 universality (it refers to the necessity of a given character to speak or act according to how all or most humans would react in a given situation.
Aristotle does not like the episodic plot
There are two kinds of plot
1. Complex plot
2. Simple plot ( in it incidents are not governed by the laws of probability and necessity, and the change in the hero’s life is not accomplished by peripety and anagnorisis. anagnorisis stands for change from ignorance to knowledge of circumstances or facts.
A perfect plot for tragedy must have only one issue.
A complex plot is consisting of several discoveries and a simple one without both.
Elements of action of the plot
1. Astonishment ( it refers to a tragedy’s ability to inspire ‘fear and pity, it happens when events come by surprise, but not by chance.)
2. Reversal or peripetia (as a result of hamartia reversal or perpetia happens. In it, the hero suffers a reversal in his fortune in the form of his falling down from the state of happiness into the state of misery leading towards his final disaster. it is the change by which the main action of the story comes full-circle- for example, in Oedipus, the messenger who comes to free Oedipus from his fears of his mother produces the opposite effect with his news.)
3. Discovery or anagnorisis or recognition ( it is the change from ignorance to knowledge, usually involving people coming to understand the identities of one another or discovering whether a person has done a thing or not. The best forms of recognition are linked with a reversal as in Oedipus and in tandem, will produce pity and fear from the audience)
4. Suffering ( it is destructive or painful action, which is often the result of a reversal or recognition.
Parts of plot
1. Rising action
2. Complication
3. Exposition
4. the Turning point
5. Climax
6. Reconciliation
7. Ending
The plot is the most important part of a tragedy for several reasons
1 plot is the name of action so without action man’s failure or success can not be determined
2 without there, there can not be a tragedy
3 diction, song, and thought can not be shown without plot
So the plot is the ‘’soul of tragedy’’ and characters come second
Elements of best tragic plot
• It should have a complex plan. A good tragedy does not simply present the spectacle of a virtuous man suffering adversity
• It should arouse the feeling of pity and fear
Concluded discussion on plot
No other view of Aristotle about tragedy has been subjected to so much harsh criticism as the one that ‘’ a tragedy is impossible without plot, but there may be one without character’’, or that ‘’ the plot is the soul of tragedy and character is of secondary importance’’.
The implication of these remarks suggests that a good tragedy given Aristotle is plot-dominated in which the destiny of the tragic hero is connected and not the development of his character.
Some modern critics have rejected this view as completely absurd and given preference with equal emphasis to characterization over plot in tragedy.
Some critics rejected both, plot and character; they stress the subject of the tragedy.
Both critics and playwrights in the subsequent literary ages refuse to conform to the Aristotelian concept of the dominance of plot over character in a tragedy. They say that all the tragedies of Marlowe and Shakespeare are character-dominated. ‘’Doctor Faustus’’, ‘’Tamburlaine’’, ‘’ HAMLET’’ AND ‘’ Macbeth’’ are great tragedies because of the forcefulness of the characters of the tragic heroes of these tragedies.
Even in the modern age, T.S Eliot’s ‘’ murder in the Cathedral’’ is a great tragedy because of the deep study of the rich and varied character of king henry II and Thomas a Beckett.
To sum up, in fact, Aristotle’s preference of plot over character in a tragedy is not the result of any philosophical inquisition or any technical necessity. It has been deduced from the Greek tragedies of Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus which he had studied. Since the Greek tragedian took his subject from the ancient myths and legends very little was left from him to add characters. As such selection of incidents and their re-arrangement in the dramatic action which Aristotle calls plot is logically bound to get preference over character which is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of fate in the greek tragedy.
There is no doubt about it that if Aristotle had studied the Elizabethan tragedies in which the tragedian showed more interest in man than in his fate and later in the modern scientific ages in which the tragedian had made the psychological probing in the inner life of man, his role in the plot and character would have been different and very close to our own.
Today, a good tragedy is believed to be the one in which the character has been delineated in-depth within the bounds of a well-constructed plot.
Aristotle’s insistence on the singleness of plot was subjecting to indifference in the Elizabethan period. Shakspeare successfully incorporated the sub-plot in his tragedies to enlarge and intensify the tragic impression of the tragedy.
2.Character ( Aristotle considers character as a part of the play but he prefers plot over character.
Characteristics of protagonist/tragic hero
Aristotle’s concept of the tragic hero as given in ‘’The Poetics’’ has been one of the most debated topics in the history of literary criticism.
According to this view, the truly tragic hero is comparatively a better personage than the average people in the real life.
The tragedy is brought about upon the hero by the fatal mistake of judgment committed by him because of the tragic flaw or ‘’ hamartia’’ in his character.
as a result of hamartia reversal or perpetia happens. In hero suffers a reversal in his fortune in the form of his falling down from the state of happiness into the state of misery leading towards his final disaster. it is the change by which the main action of the story comes full-circle- for example, in Oedipus, the messenger who comes to free Oedipus from his fears of his mother produces the opposite effect with his news.)
The main character (hero/protagonist) must have four characteristics.
According to Aristotle
• A tragic hero should have a high status, but in understanding, he should not be a perfect human being but better than the average person.
It means that he should be good, but not pre-eminently good or virtuous.
What he says or does reveal the goodness of his character.
Hence, unless the tragic hero has goodness, his misery does not arouse the tragic emotions of pity and fear in us.
A perfectly blameless person is not fit to be a tragic hero because the unmerited suffering does not arouse pity and fear in the spectator. It only shocks him.
Likewise, an entirely wicked character that is morally deteriorated is not also fit to be tragic emotions in the spectator.
*****all these views bring home the idea that the tragedian, according to Aristotle, has a moral purpose at the back of his mind which refutes ( radd Karna) Plato's allegation of immorality against poetry.
It also implies that Aristotle favors the complex character for tragedy.
He should fall from the state of happiness to the state of misery as a result of some fatal error on his part and not by his personal vice.
Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero has been criticized in the subsequent literary ages and modified accordingly.
In the modern age, the focus on the tragic hero has been shifted from kings and princes to the common man.
Marlow’s ‘’ Tamburlaine’’ and Shakespeare’s ‘’Macbeth’’ successfully prove that even villains can be tragic heroes and, thus set aside Aristotle's view that only moderately good men can be tragic heroes.
Again Bernard Shaw and T.S Eliot have proved that tragedy is possible even with saints.
With the rise of democracy, this view of Aristotle that the tragic hero must e a man of eminence and nobility also suffered a setback.
• He must have propriety of manly valor.
It means a man should behave like a man and a woman should behave like a woman.
It also means that Aristotle has also insisted that the character of the tragic hero must be appropriate which implies that he must act or behave e in keeping with the class, profession, and status represented by him.
The hero must show the myth related to him. For example, Oedipus must be portrayed as proud and rash. And Ulysses can be represented as foolish.
• He must be true to life not fictional
The third characteristic of the tragic hero is that he must be true to life which implies that he must be a true representative of human nature or his behavior should be in keeping with the character of the historical or legendary personage, he represents.
It means that the tragic hero must be portrayed with all his virtues and shortcomings.
For example, Achilles in any tragedy must be portrayed with high courage and hasty temper, because in history his character would be like that.
• He must be consistent.
The last and final characteristic is that the characterization of the tragic hero must be marked by ‘’consistency’’.
That is, his words and actions must be the logical outcome of his character.
His character must develop by conforming to the laws of necessity and probability which mean rationality.
( in easy words, according to Aristotle, a hero must be an ideal, good, and distinctive figure among his fellows. He must possess unique nature. He must also have confidence in his abilities.
All these characteristics discussed above suggest that the ideal tragic hero is neither completely wicked nor completely good.
Aristotle’s tragic hero is an intermediate man but better than an ordinary man in the real life.
He is a man like us but morally and intellectually superior to us.
He is high-paced and well-reputed.
Under the impact of vastly changed social and cultural conditions and moral and intellectual values, this concept has been subjected to some necessary modification by the later tragedians.
Hamartia (misjudgment)
Hamartia is the cornerstone of Aristotle's concept of the tragic hero and the theory of tragedy given in his famous treatise ‘’ The Poetics’’.
Etymologically ‘’ hamartia’’ means ‘’ error of judgment’’ or ‘’ missing the mark’’.
It implies that the hero’s aims for something but something else happens.
The tragedy is brought about upon the hero by the fatal mistake of judgment committed by him because of the tragic flaw or ‘’ hamartia’’ in his character.
Therefore ‘’ hamartia ‘’ is not a moral imperfection.
It may the result of a misreading of circumstances or it may be the result of taking a careless or hasty view of a given situation or it may be the result of a fit of passion.
Aristotle has upheld Oedipus as the ideal tragic hero because he qualifies all the possible errors narrated above. Oedipus is essentially noble and his ruin is not due to moral depravity. He kills his father and marries his mother unknowingly and is, thus an unfortunate victim of circumstances.
Shakespeare’s Othello is also a tragic hero who makes an error in judging Iago’s honesty.
Modern writers do not accept this theory of Aristotle. Besides, if we study the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, we will notice that their heroes and heroines are the victims of fate but the hero in the modern tragedies is not the victim of fate. They think that the hero of modern times is a victim of the brutal forces of the modern exploiting society. They try their best to overcome these hostile forces but in vain. That is why ‘’Hamlet’’, Doctor Faustus, and Macbeth are more powerful characters than Oedipus and Orestes. They are not plagued by the prophecies of the Oracles or the tragic conflict which made hamlet and Macbeth the classics of the tragedy for all time. Nor do they have ‘’ hamartia’’ or tragic flaw in their characters which can bring about their downfall on rational grounds. They are simply the symbols of different forms of exploitation of the poor and the weak by the rich and the strong.
Conclusively, the modified definition of the tragedy of Aristotle in the light of the modifications detailed above is now something like this.
‘’ A tragedy is an imitation (representation) by speech, and action of some serious phase of life, the function of which is to reveal the truth concerning society in colloquial language.
3.Diction ( rhythmic language) ( in treating diction Aristotle refers to the art of acting. He believes that the language of poetry whereas it must be clear and intelligible, it must also be enriched by the use of metaphor which implies an intuitive perception. Perfection is that which is made of the ordinary words for things because strange words result in barbarism or unintelligible speech. Hence, the language of tragedy must be clear but elevated.
4.Thought ( thought is the intellectual element in a tragedy and it is expressed in the speech of the character. Hence the thoughts and the sentiments of the person involved in a tragic action may find expression in their words as well as in their actions. Technically speaking, only such speeches or actions are significant as express the views and feelings of the character. In other words, thought and diction reflect the character.
5. Spectacles ( spectacles or the scenic effects have more to do with tragic craft than with the writing of poetry of tragedy. Pity and fear can be produced by spectacular means on the stage but Aristotle advises the dramatist that it is better to produce such effects through writing that is through structure and incidents of the play. It is not the sight of Oedipus with his eyes torn out that gives us the emotion peculiar to tragedy but rather the fact that this disaster arose inevitably from the sequence of events.
6.Song ( song ‘’ the greatest of all embellishments’’ is to be found in the choric parts of tragedy and is one of the sources of tragic pleasure. Aristotle condemns the practice of introducing songs that are not properly connected with the tragedy. Sophocles has made better use of this element than Euripides.
7.Dramatic Unities Aristotle identifies three common rules which seemed to apply t every tragedy:
• The unity of action ( he stressed upon the unity of action implying thereby that the action of the tragedy should be a logical sequence and a coherent whole.
• The unity of time ( he observes that the duration of tragedy may be limited to a single revolution of the sun but even that is not imperative.
• The unity of place ( he does not mention the unity of place which has wrongly ascribed to him.)
External elements in a tragedy
• Character
• Music
• Spectacles
Eternal elements in a tragedy
• Language
• Thought
• plot
Aristotle writes three major forms of art
• Poetry
• Music
• Dance
Aristotle described mediums of the art of imitation
• Rhythm
• Melody/melody
• language
Object of imitation
The object of imitation is to show the man
Comedy represents men as worse than they are, tragedy as better than they are in actual life.
Mode of imitation
• narration ( in which he takes another personality )
• speak in his own person, unchanged ( the first person I)
• presents all his characters as living and moving before us (third-person narrator)
Aristotle and poetry/poet
According to Aristotle poetry emerged for two reasons
1. Man’s instinct to imitate things
2. The instinct for harmony and rhythm.
Poetry, as Aristotle defines it, is first and foremost a medium of imitation meaning a form of art that seeks to duplicate or represent life. Poetry can imitate life in several ways, by representing the character, emotion, action, or even everyday objects.
Aristotle says that the object of poetry is the man, his virtues, and vices.
Aristotle says that imaginative impulse is the basis of poetry. He says, ‘’ it is possible to imagine life as it is but the exciting thing is to imagine life as it might be’’
He defends poetry in these words, ‘’ a poet communicates his emotions and essence of life by recreating life, and he not only imitates nature but also idealizes it.
Means of poet/poetry are
1. Form
2. Color
3. Sound
4. Rhythmical posturing or verse
According to Aristotle, a poet derives his subject for his poetry from life.
According to Aristotle, the major forms of poetry are
• epic poetry
• tragedy
• comedy
• dithyrambic poetry
• pure narrative or pure drama
• music
Aristotle says that tragedy and epic have the same metrical form and are idealized.
Plato’s Attack on poetry
Plato’s literary criticism, especially his views on poetry inaugurates a new phase in critical development.
He was a teacher and philosopher.
He had his own academy
The object of his academy was to make young men fit to be the leaders and rulers of an ideal state.
• For understanding his theory on poetry we must have to know that the aim of his literary criticism was frankly utilitarian. It means that his purpose was to educate the youth and forming them into good citizens of his ideal state.
From this practical point of view, he made an attack on poetry.
• For understanding Plato's views on poetry, it is also essential to understand the contemporary state of affairs in Athens.
• It was the time of political decline
Education was in a poor state.
The epic of Homer was considered to be the school curriculum.
Just like Bible
In homer’s work, many stories present the gods in an unfavorable light.
• Courage, heroism, magnificence, and skill in the use of arms were the virtues prized highly by the Greeks.
• Flowering time Greek art and literature was over,
Literature at that time was largely immoral, corrupt, and degenerated.
• As a result, philosophers were regarded as superior to poets and artists.
Confusion prevailed in all spheres of life, intellectual, moral, political, and educational.
There was a constant debate between the philosophers and poets regarding their respective significance.
These are the grounds and circumstances of the day, for which Plato tries to demonstrate the practical superiority of philosophy over poetry.
Plato’s attack on poetry must be judged concerning its political and social context.
He judges poetry from this point of view.
He attacks poetry and drama on
moral,
emotional, and
intellectual grounds.
• Plato’s attack on poetry on moral grounds
• Poetry is not conducive ( responsible) to social morality, as poets pander to the popular taste and narrate tales of man’s pleasant vices
• Poets ‘’ tell lies about gods’’
They showed gods and great heroes as corrupt, immoral, and dishonest; indeed subject to all the faults, follies, and vices of common human beings.
It has been done by Homer.
• Drama is even more harmful. Judgment in dramatic matters is left to the reader and the result is lawlessness.
• Plato attack on poetry on emotional grounds
• Plato says that maybe poets are inspired by some divine spirits but their meanings are not always clear. They are often full of obscurities and contradictions.
• Often the poets cannot themselves explain what they write.
• Plato condemns poets in his republic
• On intellectual grounds
Poets have no knowledge of the truth
Poetry is thrice removed from reality
Plato said about poetry
‘’ poetry can serve no useful, practical purpose; it must be apart from school curriculum’’
He also said
‘’ no poetry should be admitted save except, hymns to the god and panegyrics on famous men’’
He also said
‘’ the poets are to be honored, but they are to be banished from his ideal state.’’
Aristotle’s defense of poetry
He said,
‘’ poetry is ‘’not only pleasant but also useful ‘’ for men and society.
The poetics is a systematic exposition of the theory and practice of poetry, a well-reasoned rebuttal of Plato's charges against poetry.
Major differences between Plato and Aristotle
• Plato set out to reorganize human life; while Aristotle set out to reorganize human knowledge.
• Plato was a transcendentalist ( hawas say aari ) while Aristotle was a realist.
• Plato believed that this world is the shadow of the real world and Aristotle believed in the reality of the world of the senses. Aristotle thinks that this world is the real world. Thus Aristotle moves from real to ideal
• Plato’ language in ‘’The Republic’’ is poetic whereas Aristotle’s language in ‘’poetics’’ is dogmatic( asooli), telegraphic
• Plato compares poetry to painting: Aristotle compared it to music and rhythm.
• According to Plato, poetry imitates only surface appearances, like a painter,; according to Aristotle, poetry imitates not only the externals but also internal emotions and experiences like a musician.
• In Plato's view, poetry presents a copy of nature as it is; according to Aristotle, poetry may imitate men as they are, it may also imitate them either better or worse.
BY SAMIA UMER
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