AKISTOTLE'S POETICS
I propose to treat of Poetry in itself and of
I
L447
ft
its
various
•
kinds, noting the essential quality of each
;
to inquire into
poem
the structure of the plot as requisite to a good
number and nature
into the
poem
is
composed
within the same inquiry.
nature,
let
of the parts of which
and similarly into whatever
;
a
else falls
Following, then, th§ order of
us begin with the principles which come
first.
Epic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyramhic 2
and the music
poetry,
of the flute
most of their forms, are
mod es
of imitation
.
They
another in three respects,
manner or mode of
—
and of the
lyre in
in their general conception
all
differ,
from
however,
one
3
the ttedium, the objects, the
imitation,
being
in
each
case
distinct.
For as there are persons who, by conscious
art or i
mere habit, imitate and represent various objects through
the
medium
of colour
and form, or again by the voice
so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole, the
imitation
is
produced by rhythm, language, or
either singly or combined.
7
'
harmony,'
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
Thus in the music, of the
'harmnnj'
rTiyiJajn
fl,nf)
4—9
I.
and of the
flute
alone
9
employed;
are
lyre,
also
in
other arts, such as that of the shepherd's pipe, which
are
essentially similar to
alone
'harmony';
used without
is
In dancing;^ rhyth
these.
even
for
m5
dancing
by rhythmical
imitates character, emotion, and action,
movement.
There
by means of
another art which imitates
is
language alone- and that either in prose or verse
1447
b verse, again,
sist of
For there
combine
— but
is
—which
different metres or con-
this has hitherto
been without
no common term we could apply
mimes of Sophron and Xenarchus and the
dialogues
'
one
the
in
hand;
iambic,
and,
on
elegiac,
the
or
People do, indeed, add the word
metre.
poet
on
imitations
poetic
*
either
but one kind
a name.
the
may
6
to 7
Socratic
other,
to
any similar
'
maker
'
or
to the name of the metre, and speak of elegiac
poets, or epic (that
is,
hexameter) poets, as
if it
were not
the imitation that makes the poet, but the verse that
entitles
when a
them
all
treatise
on medicine or natural science
out in verse, the
author
;
Even
indiscriminately to the name.
name
of poet
is
is
8
brought
by custom given
to the
and yet Homer and Empedocles have nothing in
common but
the metre, so that
it
would be right
to
call
the one poet, the other physicist rather than poet.
On
the same principle, even
if
a writer in his poetic
imitation were to combine all metres, as
in his Centaur, which
is
Chaeremon did
a medley composed of metres
9
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
of all kinds,
term poet.
There
11
4
we should bring him too under the
So much then for these distinctions.
are,
some
again,
means above mentioned,
arts
—
which employ
general
all
the 10
namely, rhythm, tune, an d
Such are Dithyrambic and ITomic poetry and
metre.
,
Tragedy and Comedy
also
9— II.
I.
difference
the
that in
is,
them
between
but
are all employed in combination, in the latter,
means
is
employed,
now
the
two cases these means
first
now
on.e
another.
Such, then, are the differences of the arts with respect
to the
medium
of imitation.
Since the objects of imitation are
II
*
these
men must
men
in action,
moral character mainly answers to these
(for
goodness and badness
of moral differences),
men
depicted
it
It is the
men
follows that
Now
we must
life,
drew them true
to
represent
or as wors e,
same in painting.
as nobler than they are,
noble, Dionysius
divisions,
being the distinguishing marks
either as better than in real
as they are.
and
be either of a higher or a lower type
or.
Polygnotus
Pauson as
less
life.
evident that each of the modes of imitation 2
it is
above mentioned will exhibit these differences, and be-
come a
distinct
distinct.
Such
kind in imitating objects that are thus
diversities
and
flute-playing,
may
lyre-playing.
be found even in dancing,
whether prose or verse unaccompanied by music.
men
Hegemon
for
example, makes
as
they are;
3
So again in language,
better than they are
;
Homer,
Cleophon
the Thasian, the inventor
of
parodies, and Mcochares, the author of the Deiliad, worse
than they
are.
and Nomes
;
The same thing holds good
here too one
may
of
Dithyrambs
portray different types, as
i
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
Timotheus and Philoxenus
The same
Cyclopes.
Comedy
for
;
There
is still
marks
may
13
3
Tragedy from
men
as worse.
life.
a third difference
each of these objects
off
aims at representing
Tragedy as better than in actual
Ill
4— HI-
differed in representing their
distinction
Comedy
II.
—
the manner in which
For the medium
be imitated.
being the same, and the objects the same, the poet
imitate
— which
Homer
unchanged—
he may
by narration
in
person,
or
as living
and moving before
we
These, then, as
case he can either take
does, or speak in his
another personality as
may
own
present all his characters
us.
said at the beginning, are
the 2
three differences which distinguish artistic imitation,
the medium, the objects, and the manner.
one point of view, Sophocles
Homer
kind as
character
as
both
for
—
higher
of view, of the
types
of
same kind
both imitate persons acting and
for
Hence, some
So that from
an imitator of the same
imitate
from another point
Aristophanes
doing.
to
;
—
is
say, the
name
of
'
drama
'
is
given
For the same
such poems, as representing action.
reason the Dorians claim the invention both of Tragedy
The claim
and Comedy.
the Megarians,
—
to
Comedy
is
put forward by
not only by those of Greece proper,
allege that it originated
under their democracy, but also by
the Megarians of Sicily, for the poet Epicharmus,
much
earlier
country.
language.
is
is
claimed by certain Dorians of the
In each case they appeal to the evidence of
The outlying
called K&fiai,
who
than Chionides and Magnes, belonged to that
Tragedy too
Peloponnese.
who
villages,
by the Athenians
that Comedians were so
they say, are by them
hrjfioi r
and they assume
named not from
Kco/id^eiv,
'
to
3
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
revel,'
6
15
being excluded contemptuously from the
Kcofiai),
They add
IMS b city.
may
This
various
also that the
Dorian word for
'
doing
and the Athenian, wpdrreiv.
Bpav,
IV
3— IV.
but because they wandered from village to village
{icaTci.
is
III.
suffice as to the
modes
number and nature
of the 4
of imitation.
Poetry in general seems to have sprung from
them
causes,_each of
lying deep in our nature.
pf indf^ri£m-ia-itrip1qntad..in-
I'nstiTjft^t-,
TTia.n...£rnm nl^jl^^bof^d,
one difference between him and other animals
that he
through imitation learns his
have
earliest lessons
evidence
fidelity
of
in
this
and no
less
We 3
the
facts
of
experience.
we view with
pain,
we
when reproduced with minute
contemplate
to
;
the pleasure felt in things imitated.
is
Objects which in themselves
delight
being
the most imitative of living creatures, and
is
universal
-tsro^^
First, the 2
such as the forms of the most ignoble animals
:
and of dead
The cause of
bodies.
this again
is,
that to
4
learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers
but
to
men
learning
is
in
general;
more
whose
enjoy seeing a likeness
is,
capacity,
however, of
Thus the reason why men
limited.
that in contemplating
it
5
they
find themselves learning or inferring, and saying perhaps,
'Ah, that
is
he.'
For
if
you happen not
the original, the pleasure will
to
have seen
be due not to the imitation
as such, but to the execution, the colouring, or
some such
"other cause.
Imitation, then,
is
one instinct of our nature.
there is the i nstinct for
'
harmony
'
being manifestly sections of rhythm.
""rl
Next,
rhythm, metres
Persons, therefore,
starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their
6
ARISTOTLE'S POEtlCS IV.
special aptitudes,
till
6— li
1?
their rude improvisations gave birth
to Poetry.
now
Poetry
the
individual
character
imitated
s pirits
meaner
persons,
the former did
famous
noble
The more
good men.
of
diverged in two directions, according to
and
the
of
actions
sort imitated^^jy^^^actions
trivial
at
The graver
the writers.
of
actipns.
composing
first
as
satires,
hymns to the gods and the praises of
poem of the satirical kind cannot
A
men.
7
8
indeed be put down to any author earlier than Homer;
though many such
writers probably there
from Homer onward, instances can be
example, and
Margites, for
The appropriate metre was
the measure
is
cited,
—
'his
own
other similar compositions.
also here introduced
called the
stiU
But
were.
;
hence
lampooning
iambic or
which people lampooned one
measure,
being that
another.
Thus the older poets were distinguished
in
as 9
writers of heroic or of lampooning verse.
As, in the serious style.
for
poets,
he
alone
Homer Js. pre-eminent among
co mbined
main
.
a the
same
relation to
do to Tragedy.
,
fnyni ,„^it,b
fiigt_Jaid,jiQ3iii_Jtha„
thfi.JLudicrous-
His Margites bears
satire.
Comedy
'
dramatising
linPiR-^.£i£-.i^Qmedyr-1)y
instead of writing personal
1449
^^.r^TngliB
he too
excellen ce- of imitatioii,.^o
that the Iliad
and Odyssey
But when Tragedy and Comedy came
of poets
followed their
to light, the
two
natural bent
the lampooners became writers of Comedy,
:
and the Epic
since
the
classes
poets
succeeded
were
drama was a
still
larger
and
10
by Tragedians,
higher
form
of
art.
Whether Tragedy has
as
yet
perfected
its
proper
11
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS IV.
types or not
in relation
also
Be
question.
—^^^
and whether
;
it is
that as
—
19
—
itself,
or
raises
another
as also
Comedy
this
may. Tragedy
it
— 15
to be judged in
the audience,
to
ii
12
The one originated
at .firstjnere iinprovisation.
with the authors of the Dithyramb, the other with those
which are
of the phallic songs,
our
Tragedy advanced
cities.
new element
in use in
still
was in turn developed.
Having passed through many changes,
Aeschylus
i
it
first intr pdun gd
pjjfxf. t,"
found
it
f>f
^^q,
thu Hialngna.
a.
sppnnd
f^^fjn]^^
factor;
was not
till
natural
p,nd
he dimin-
fliRS^gT?"'^
13
*J"
Sophocles raised the number
of actors to three, and added scene-painting.
it
its
stopped.
shed the.iTn pQ.r.lajifp
l eading
of
by slow degrees; each
that showed itself
form, and there
many
Moreover, 14
was discarded
late that the short plot
for
one of greater compass, and the grotesque diction of the
earlier satyric
form
for the stately
manner
of Tragedy.
The iamj3ic.measure.JJjea,re^a£edjtt^^
which was originally employed when the poetiy was of
the satyric order, and had greater affinities with dancing.
Once dialogue had come
in,
Nature herself discovered the
appropriate measure.
For the iambic
the most colloquial:
we
see it
is,
in the
versational speech runs into iambic lines
of all measures,
fact
that con-
more frequently
than into any other kind of verse; rarely into hexameters,
tonation.
and only when we drop the
The
additions to
or acts, and the other
the
colloquial
number
accessories
of
in-
of 'episodes' IS
which
tradition
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS IV. 15— V. 4
must be taken
tells,
them
in
as already described
would,
detail
doubtless,
;
a
be
21
for to discuss
under-
large
taking.
V
Comedy
we have
as
is,
of a lower type,
—
not,
said,
an imitation of characters
however, in the
full sense of
the
word bad, the Ludicrous being merely a subdivision of
the ugly.
is
not
some defect or uglines s which
It consists in
painful
or
example, the comic
To take an
destructive.
mask
is
obvious
ugly and distorted, but does
not imply pain.
The successive changes through which Tragedy
passed, 2
and the authors of these changes, are well known, whereas
Comedy has had no
L449
b treated seriously.
It
history, because it
was
a comic chorus to a poet
when comic
furnished
it
remain unknown.
already taken definite shape
generalised his
—
As
for
the plot,
it
came
originally
themes and
'
iambic
'
or lampooning form,
plots.
far as it is
in verse of -ch aracters xtLa. higher Jiype.
metre, and
3
these and other similar details
Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so
in
of.
with masks, or prologues, or increased
who, abandoning the
differ,
then
but of Athenian writers Crates was the
from Sicily;
i mitation
till
poets, distinctively so called, are heard
the number of actors,
first
at first
Archon granted
the performers were
;
Comedy had
voluntary.
Who
late before the
was not
that
is
^pic poet ry_adnuta._l}ut_ one
!
n arrative in form.
They
an
They
kind of
differ,
again.
4
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS V.
in
their
length
o"
1
:
4—VI.
23
4
Tragedy endeavours, as
for
possible, to confine itself to a single revolution of the
sun
,
or but slightly to exceed this limit;
Epic action has no limits of time.
second point of difference;
though at
"^v^
whereas the
This,
then,
first
"
;;-.
^
the same
freedom was admitted in Tragedy as in Epic poetry,
Of
their constituent parts
some are common
some peculiar to Tragedy whoever,
what is good or bad Tragedy, knows
also
knows
about Epic
poem
All the elements of an Epic
poetry.
^
to both, 5
therefore,
:
are found
in Tragedy, but the elements of a Tragedy are not
all
found in the Epic poem.
VI
Of the poetry which
of
Comedy, we
Tragedy, resuming
Tragedy then,
,
is
Let us
now
and
discuss
formal definition, as resulting from
its
what has been already
serious.
imitates in hexameter verse,
will speak hereafter.
said.
an imitation of an
acti on
that
is 2
complete,And_o£A^grMnmagniMej in language
embellished with each kind of ^ artistic ornament, the
""
seweraLkinds-being JCqund. in separate parts of the play
.
in Jhe
form of
action, not of narrative; through pity
fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.
'language
embellished,'
rhythm, 'harmony,'
and.
I
mean language
song enter.
By
'
into
and
By
3
which
the several kinds
in separate parts,' I mean, that some parts are rendered
through the medium of verse alone, others again with
the aid of song.
Now as
tragic imitation implies persons acting,
it
neces-
sarily follows, in the first place, that SescteculaiLjequip-
mentyjuM be a part of Tragedy.
for these are the
medium
Next, S png and Diction.
of imitation.
By
5
'^
a
is
^
\
as
far
'Diction'
4
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS VI. 4
I
mean
as for
'
—
25
the mere metrical arrangement of the words
Song/
a term whose sense every one under-
it is
stands.
Again, Tragedy
the imitation of an action
is
who
action implies personal agents,
a for
it
and
is
these:
by these that we qualify
— hought
and character
and an
5
necessarily possess
certain distinctive qualities both of character
1450
;
and thought;
actions
themselves,
— are the two natural
causes from whi^_ji£tiOT^j£ring, and o n actions again
Hence, the Plot
all success or failure depends.
imitation of the action
:
—
for
by
that in virtue of which
the agents.
is
proved,
Thought
or,
it
Every Tragedy,
parts
determine
we
be,
therefore,
its
medium
must have
—
six jjarls,
;
which
7
namely, ipiot, Character,
^
Two
of iniitation, one the
And
of the parts con-
manner and
,
three
these complete the
These elements have been employed, we
man
mean
Character I
a general truth enunciated.
quality
the objects of imitation.'
poets to a
the
ascribe certain qualities to
Diction, Thought, Si3ectacle,^Song.
stitute the
the 6
required wherever a statement
is
may
mean
plot I here
By
arrangement of the incidents.
is
may
say,
list.
by the
8
in fact, every play contains Spectacular
elements as well as Character, Plot, Diction, Song, and
Thought.
But most important
of
all
is
the structure of the 9
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS VI. 9—14
For Traged y
incid ents.
of an action and of
its
end
mode
a
is
is
life,
of
27
an imitation, no t of men, but
and
life consists
not
action,
a
in action, and
character determines men's qualities, but
it
a tragedy
is the chief
thing of
without action there cannot be a tragedy
The
without character.
poets
fail in
the
incidents and the plot are the end of
and the end
;
Dramatic
character comes in as subsidiary to
Hence the
actions.
tragedies of
there
may
be
;
and
of poets in
same in painting
is
and here
the difference between Zeuxis and Polygnotus.
often true.
Polygnotus delineates character well
is
devoid
of
ethical
:
the style of Zeuxis
Again,
quality.
ii
most of our modern
the rendering of character
It is the
;
Again,
all.
general this
lies
10
their
with a view to the representation
action, therefore, is not
:
by
is
a ctions tha t they are hapgyor^^ the reverse.
of character
Now
quality.
if
you string li^
together a set of speeches expressive of character, and
well finished in point of diction and thought, you will
not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so well as
with a play which, however deficient in these respects,
yet has
a
plot
and
artistically
constructed
incidents.!
Besides which, the most powerful elements of emotional 13
interest^m^Tragedy;;;;;- Peripeteia "m^13SMMM.1oJ..
Situ ation, a nd Eecognition scenes
A further
proof
of diction
and
is,
—
Jhe
are parts of the plot,
that novices in the art attain to finish 14
precision of portraiture before
construct the plot.
It
is
the
they can
same with almost
all
the early poets.
The
Plot, then, is thejfiiat-principle, and, as it were,
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS VI. 14—19
the soul of a tragedy
1460
b
A
similar fact
colours, laid
is
:
29
Character hol ds the seco nd place.
The most
seen in painting.
beautiful 15
on confusedly, will not give as much pleasure
Thus Tragedy
as the chalk outline of a portrait.
the
is
imitation of an ac tion, an4j|Jbfi,^ageate.,Ba«dBfe
"HJSJLigi^
action.
Third in order
s aying
what js
atances.
Thought,
is
—
that
this is the function of
the political art and of the art of rhetoric
of civic
life
rhetoricians.
;
make
and so indeed
:
their characters speak the language
the poets of our time, the language of the
Cliaracter
PTirpasej^^bo^ing
avoids.
faculty of 16
possi ble .and, ,p^J3B.efljt^ift.jgyen circum-
In the case of oratory,
the older poets
t hg
is,
that
is
which reveals
moral
what ,,ldiid» of things a man ehooses
Speeches,
which do not make
therefore,
manifest, or in which the speaker does
17
or
this
not choose or
avoid anything whatever, are not expressive of character.
r
Thou ght, on the other hand,
proved to be or not
to
is
be,
found where something
or a general
maxim
is
\
is
1
enunciated?^
Eoiwtb-
Dicti^j by
among
elements
the
enumerated
comes
expression of the meaning in words
the same both in verse and
;
and
its
essence
is
prose.
Of the remaining elements Song, holds the
chief place 19
among the embellishments.
The Sgeetacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of
its own, but, of aU the parts, it is the l east artisti c, and
For the power
connected least with the art of poetry.
of Tragedy,
18
which I mean, as has been already said, the
we may be
sure, is felt
representation and actors.
even apart from
Besides, the production of
jij^
^
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS VI.
19—VII.
31
5
spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage
machinist than on that of the poet.
These principles being established,
VII
let
now discuss
us
the pro£erjtru£ture_oLJi3SJPJ^ since this
is
the
first
and most important thing in Tragedy.
Now, according
our
to
imitation of an action that
of a certain
is
magnitude
;
A
itself follow
may
be a whole that
that which has
end, on the contrary,
A
follows
some other
by
thing, either
follows something as
beginning
,
3
that
is
is
or comes to be.
that which itself naturally
is
but has nothing following
2
anything by causal necessity,
but after which something naturally
An
an
ffibole is
a bej3,^jU3g,,ajaaiddle,-a»d.,m.,,SBd.
which does not
is
complete, and whole, and
for there
wanting in magnitude.
Tragedy
definition,
is
necessity, or as a rule,
A
it.
middle
that which
is
some other thing follows
it.
i^ well
constructed, plot, thersfoM,. Jaust».neitJijei»«begiQ.,,a.j3r, ..end
^haphazardT-but-coaform^tO-.these-pcis^i^es.
Again, a
beautiful
whether
object,
organism or any whole
composed of
be a living 4
it
parts,
must not
only have an orderly arrangement of parts, but must
also be of a certain
magnitude
and
magnitude
order.
;
for beauty depends
Hence a
organism cannot be beautiful
;
very
for the
small
view of
on
animal
it is
con-
fused, the object being seen in an almost imperceptible
moment
161
of time.
a beautiful
;
Nor, again, can one of vast size be
for as the eye cannot take
the unity and sense of the whole
as
for
long.
instance
if
there were
is lost
it all
in at once,
for the spectator
one a thousand miles
As, therefore, in the case of animate bodies
organisms a certain magnitude
is
and
necessary, and a magni-
6