Aristotle’s Poetics Plato loved poetry but felt that because of Socrates teachings, that poets were imitators without access to reality or truth. Imitation was a self-defeating and sterile activity. Poetry is twice removed from reality and caters to emotions and UN-reality. Aristotle then argues for poetry. He defends it, although not perfectly, from Plato’s attack. Aristotle believes poets imitate the way things are/were, or the way people see them, or the way they ought to be. The image ought to out-do the originals; therefore, imitation is OK.

Origin of poetry Men take pleasure in imitation, and it comes naturally. There are things we see with pain, but whose images we view with pleasure. Comedy is an imitation of inferior persons but not full villains - it is the imitation of the ugly and ludicrous. Tragedy is imitation with serious implications through a course of pity and fear (catharsis), language made sensuously attractive (rhythm and melody), and structure (plot). –Tragedy is imitation of life and action but not men because a tragedy can exist without characters, but it must have a plot.

Tragedy part 1 – Many scholars use Aristotle’s ideas today! Tragedies must have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t include everything in the life of one character, just those events which further the plot. Tragedies have 6 elements - plot, character, verbal expression (poetic language like metaphor), thought, adornment, and song. The best tragedies have complex plots, fearful and pitiable happenings, and should be good moving to bad. It doesn’t make us feel the same when bad moves to good - not tragedy.

Tragedy part 2 Plot and transformation – a character moves from good circumstances to bad through a mistake of great weight and consequence [Hamartia (tragic/fatal flaw often hubris or great pride)]. Pity and fear [Catharsis] may be engaged by performing an act knowing and wittingly (murder), by refraining from performing the deed (not saving someone), or by performing a fearful act unwittingly and then see the blood relationship (murder in Oedipus). Tragic characters must be a good, appropriate, likeness to human nature, and consistent. One must strive for the necessary or probable -- it is necessary or probable that a person do a thing.

Tragedy part 3 Tragedy is superior to epic because it attains its goals better than epic does. It is better to have impossible but plausible evens than possible but implausible ones. –Thus Aristotle would consider the play Agamemnon to be a higher form than the Epic of Odysseus.