ARISTOTLE – POETICS (Written 350 B.C.

Translated by S. H. Butcher

Available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.1.1.html

Excerpts

Part I

Epic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyrambic poetry, and the music of the flute and of the lyre in most
of their forms, are all in their general conception modes of imitation. They differ, however, from one another in
three respects- the medium, the objects, the manner or mode of imitation, being in each case distinct.

Part IV

Poetry in general seems to have sprung from two causes, each of them lying deep in our nature. First, the instinct of
imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals being that he is the
most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the
pleasure felt in things imitated.

[…]

Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being
manifestly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their special
aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry.

Poetry now diverged in two directions, according to the individual character of the writers. The graver spirits
imitated noble actions, and the actions of good men. The more trivial sort imitated the actions of meaner persons, at
first composing satires, as the former did hymns to the gods and the praises of famous men. […]Thus the older
poets were distinguished as writers of heroic or of lampooning verse. […] [W]when Tragedy and Comedy came to
light, the two classes of poets still followed their natural bent: the lampooners became writers of Comedy, and the
Epic poets were succeeded by Tragedians, since the drama was a larger and higher form of art.

Part V

Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of characters of a lower type- not, however, in the full sense of the word
bad, the ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect or ugliness which is not painful
or destructive. To take an obvious example, the comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply pain. […]

Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in verse of characters of a higher type. They differ in
that Epic poetry admits but one kind of meter and is narrative in form. They differ, again, in their length: for
Tragedy endeavors, as far as possible, to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun, or but slightly to exceed
this limit, whereas the Epic action has no limits of time. This, then, is a second point of difference; though at first
the same freedom was admitted in Tragedy as in Epic poetry.

Part VI

[…] Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the
form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. By
'language embellished,' I mean language into which rhythm, 'harmony' and song enter. By '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 necessarily follows in the first place, that Spectacular equipment
will be a part of Tragedy. Next, Song and Diction, for these are the media of imitation. By 'Diction' I mean the
mere metrical arrangement of the words: as for 'Song,' it is a term whose sense every one understands.

Again, Tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain
distinctive qualities both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these-
thought and character- are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions again all success or
failure depends. Hence, the Plot is the imitation of the action- for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the
incidents. By Character I mean that in virtue of which we ascribe certain qualities to the agents. Thought is required
wherever a statement is proved, or, it may be, a general truth enunciated. Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six
parts, which parts determine its quality- namely, Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song. Two of the
parts constitute the medium of imitation, one the manner, and three the objects of imitation. And these complete the
fist. These elements have been employed, we may say, by the poets to a man; in fact, every play contains
Spectacular elements as well as Character, Plot, Diction, Song, and Thought.

Part IX

It is, moreover, evident from what has been said, that it is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened,
but what may happen- what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity. The poet and the historian
differ not by writing in verse or in prose. The work of Herodotus might be put into verse, and it would still be a
species of history, with meter no less than without it. The true difference is that one relates what has happened, the
other what may happen. Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends
to express the universal, history the particular. By the universal I mean how a person of a certain type on occasion
speak or act, according to the law of probability or necessity; and it is this universality at which poetry aims in the
names she attaches to the personages. The particular is- for example- what Alcibiades did or suffered. […]

Part XIV

Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece,
which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the
aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes Place. This is the
impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But to produce this effect by the mere
spectacle is a less artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to
create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not
demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And since the pleasure
which the poet should afford is that which comes from pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality
must be impressed upon the incidents.

Part XV

In respect of Character there are four things to be aimed at. First, and most important, it must be good. Now any
speech or action that manifests moral purpose of any kind will be expressive of character: the character will be
good if the purpose is good. This rule is relative to each class. Even a woman may be good, and also a slave;
though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. The second thing to aim at is
propriety. There is a type of manly valor; but valor in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate.
Thirdly, character must be true to life: for this is a distinct thing from goodness and propriety, as here described.
The fourth point is consistency: for though the subject of the imitation, who suggested the type, be inconsistent,
still he must be consistently inconsistent. […]

As in the structure of the plot, so too in the portraiture of character, the poet should always aim either at the
necessary or the probable. Thus a person of a given character should speak or act in a given way, by the rule either
of necessity or of probability; just as this event should follow that by necessary or probable sequence. It is therefore
evident that the unraveling of the plot, no less than the complication, must arise out of the plot itself, it must not be
brought about by the Deus ex Machina- as in the Medea, or in the return of the Greeks in the Iliad. […] Within the
action there must be nothing irrational. If the irrational cannot be excluded, it should be outside the scope of the
tragedy. Such is the irrational element in the Oedipus of Sophocles. […]