Aristotle on the art of poetry — Aristotle — John Shaqi
Aristotle on the art of poetry
Aristotle · en
Epic poetry, then, has been seen to agree with Tragedy to this extent,
that of being an imitation of serious subjects in a grand kind of verse.
It differs from it, however, (1) in that it is in one kind of verse and
in narrative form; and (2) in its length--which is due to its action
having no fixed limit of time, whereas Tragedy endeavours to keep as far
as possible within a single circuit of the sun, or something near that.
This, I say, is another point of difference between them, though at
first the practice in this respect was just the same in tragedies as
in epic poems. They differ also (3) in their constituents, some being
common to both and others peculiar to Tragedy--hence a judge of good and
bad in Tragedy is a judge of that in epic poetry also. All the parts of
an epic are included in Tragedy; but those of Tragedy are not all of
them to be found in the Epic.
6
Reserving hexameter poetry and Comedy for consideration hereafter, let
us proceed now to the discussion of Tragedy; before doing so, however,
we must gather up the definition resulting from what has been said. A
tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also,
as having magnitude, 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. Here by
'language with pleasurable accessories' I mean that with rhythm and
harmony or song superadded; and by 'the kinds separately' I mean that
some portions are worked out with verse only, and others in turn with
song.