Aesthetics -- Early works to 1800; Music -- Philosophy and aesthetics; Poetry -- Early works to 1800
Discovery in general has been explained already. As for the species of
Discovery, the first to be noted is (1) the least artistic form of
it, of which the poets make most use through mere lack of invention,
Discovery by signs or marks. Of these signs some are congenital, like
the 'lance-head which the Earth-born have on them', or 'stars', such as
Carcinus brings in in his _Thyestes_; others acquired after birth--these
latter being either marks on the body, e.g. scars, or external tokens,
like necklaces, or to take another sort of instance, the ark in the
Discovery in _Tyro_. Even these, however, admit of two uses, a better
and a worse; the scar of Ulysses is an instance; the Discovery of
him through it is made in one way by the nurse and in another by the
swineherds. A Discovery using signs as a means of assurance is less
artistic, as indeed are all such as imply reflection; whereas one
bringing them in all of a sudden, as in the _Bath-story_, is of a better
order. Next after these are (2) Discoveries made directly by the poet;
which are inartistic for that very reason; e.g. Orestes' Discovery of
himself in _Iphigenia_: whereas his sister reveals who she is by the
letter, Orestes is made to say himself what the poet rather than
the story demands. This, therefore, is not far removed from the
first-mentioned fault, since he might have presented certain tokens
as well. Another instance is the 'shuttle's voice' in the _Tereus_ of
Sophocles. (3) A third species is Discovery through memory, from a man's
consciousness being awakened by something seen or heard. Thus in _The
Cyprioe_ of Dicaeogenes, the sight of the picture makes the man burst
into tears; and in the _Tale of Alcinous_, hearing the harper Ulysses is
reminded of the past and weeps; the Discovery of them being the
result. (4) A fourth kind is Discovery through reasoning; e.g. in _The
Choephoroe_: 'One like me is here; there is no one like me but Orestes;
he, therefore, must be here.' Or that which Polyidus the Sophist
suggested for _Iphigenia_; since it was natural for Orestes to reflect:
'My sister was sacrificed, and I am to be sacrificed like her.' Or that
in the _Tydeus_ of Theodectes: 'I came to find a son, and am to die
myself.' Or that in _The Phinidae_: on seeing the place the women
inferred their fate, that they were to die there, since they had also
been exposed there. (5) There is, too, a composite Discovery arising
from bad reasoning on the side of the other party. An instance of it is
in _Ulysses the False Messenger_: he said he should know the bow--which
he had not seen; but to suppose from that that he would know it again
(as though he had once seen it) was bad reasoning. (6) The best of all
Discoveries, however, is that arising from the incidents themselves,
when the great surprise comes about through a probable incident, like
that in the _Oedipus_ of Sophocles; and also in _Iphigenia_; for it was
not improbable that she should wish to have a letter taken home. These
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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