Poetics
Encyclopedia
Aristotle
's Poetics (Greek
: , c. 335 BCE) is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory
and the first extant
philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory
. In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama
—comedy, tragedy
, and the satyr play
—as well as lyric poetry
, epic poetry
, and the dithyramb
). He examines its "first principles" and identifies its genre
s and basic elements. His analysis of tragedy
constitutes the core of the discussion. Although Aristotle's Poetics is universally acknowledged in the Western
critical tradition," Marvin Carlson explains, "almost every detail about his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions."
The work was lost to the Western world and often misrepresented for a long time. It was available through the Middle Ages
and early Renaissance
only through a Latin translation of an Arabic version written by Averroes
.
consists of the Poetics and Rhetoric
. The Poetics is specifically concerned with drama
. At some point, Aristotle's original work was divided in two, each "book" written on a separate roll of papyrus
. Only the first part–that which focuses on tragedy
–survives. The lost second part addressed comedy. Scholars speculate that the Tractatus coislinianus
summarises the contents of the lost second book.
Aristotle distinguishes between the genre
s of "poetry" in three ways:
Having examined briefly the field of "poetry" in general, Aristotle proceeds to his definition of tragedy:
Tragedy consists of six parts which Aristotle enumerates in order of importance, beginning with the most essential and ending with the least:
He offers the earliest-surviving explanation for the origins of tragedy and comedy:
The Arabic version of Aristotle’s Poetics that influenced the Middle Ages
was translated from a Greek manuscript dated to sometime prior to the year 700. This manuscript was translated from Greek to Syriac and is independent of the currently-accepted 11th-century source designated Paris 1741. The Syriac language
source used for the Arabic translations departed widely in vocabulary from the original Poetics and it initiated a misinterpretation of Aristotelian thought that continued through the Middle Ages.
There are two different Arabic interpretations of Aristotle’s Poetics in commentaries by Abu Nasr al-Farabi
and Averroes
(i.e., Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd).
Al-Farabi’s treatise endeavors to establish poetry as a logical faculty of expression, giving it validity in the Islamic world. Averroes’ commentary attempts to harmonize his assessment of the Poetics with al-Farabi’s, but he is ultimately unable to reconcile his ascription of moral purpose to poetry with al-Farabi’s logical interpretation.
Averroes' interpretation of the Poetics was accepted by the West
because of its relevance to their humanistic
viewpoints. Occasionally the philosophers of the Middle Ages even preferred Averroes’ commentary to Aristotle's stated sense. This resulted in the survival of Aristotle’s Poetics through the Arabic literary tradition.
first book and the lost second book—figure prominently in Umberto Eco
's novel The Name of the Rose
.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's Poetics (Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
: , c. 335 BCE) is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory
Dramatic theory
Dramatic theory is a term used for works that attempt to form theories about theatre and drama. Examples of ancient dramatic theory include Aristotle's Poetics from Ancient Greece and Bharata Muni's Natyasastra from ancient India.- External links :...
and the first extant
Extant literature
Extant literature refers to texts that have survived from the past to the present time. Extant literature can be divided into extant original manuscripts, copies of original manuscripts, quotations and paraphrases of passages of non-extant texts contained in other works, translations of non-extant...
philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory
Literary theory
Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...
. In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
—comedy, tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
, and the satyr play
Satyr play
Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, similar in spirit to burlesque. They featured choruses of satyrs, were based on Greek mythology, and were rife with mock drunkenness, brazen sexuality , pranks, sight gags, and general merriment.Satyric drama was one of the three varieties of...
—as well as lyric poetry
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, epic poetry
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
, and the dithyramb
Dithyramb
The dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god: Plato, in The Laws, while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb." Plato also...
). He examines its "first principles" and identifies its genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s and basic elements. His analysis of tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
constitutes the core of the discussion. Although Aristotle's Poetics is universally acknowledged in the Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
critical tradition," Marvin Carlson explains, "almost every detail about his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions."
The work was lost to the Western world and often misrepresented for a long time. It was available through the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and early Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
only through a Latin translation of an Arabic version written by Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
.
Core terms
- MimesisMimesisMimesis , from μιμεῖσθαι , "to imitate," from μῖμος , "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the...
or "imitation", "representation" - CatharsisCatharsisCatharsis or katharsis is a Greek word meaning "cleansing" or "purging". It is derived from the verb καθαίρειν, kathairein, "to purify, purge," and it is related to the adjective καθαρός, katharos, "pure or clean."-Dramatic uses:...
or, variously, "purgation", "purification", "clarification" - PeripeteiaPeripeteiaPeripeteia is a reversal of circumstances, or turning point. The term is primarily used with reference to works of literature. The English form of peripeteia is peripety. Peripety is a sudden reversal dependent on intellect and logic...
or "reversal" - AnagnorisisAnagnorisisAnagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for...
or "recognition", "identification" - HamartiaHamartiaHamartia is a term developed by Aristotle in his work Poetics. The word hamartia is rooted in the notion of missing the mark and covers a broad spectrum that includes ignorant, mistaken, or accidental wrongdoing, as well as deliberate iniquity, error, or sin...
or "miscalculation" (understood in Romanticism as "tragic flaw") - MythosMythos (Aristotle)Mythos is the term used by Aristotle in his Poetics for the plot of an Athenian tragedy. It is the first of the six elements of tragedy that he gives.- Variations on plot :...
or "plot" - EthosEthosEthos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
or "character" - DianoiaDianoiaDianoia is a term used by Plato for a type of thinking, specifically about mathematical and technical subjects. It is the capacity for, process of, or result of discursive thinking, in contrast with the immediate apprehension that is characteristic of noesis...
or "thought", "theme" - LexisLexis (Aristotle)In philosophical discourse, lexis refers to a complete group of words in a language, vocabulary, the total set of all words in a language, and all words that have meaning or a function in grammar.- Lexis according to Plato :...
or "diction", "speech" - Melos or "melody"
- OpsisOpsisOpsis ὄψις is the Greek word for spectacle in the theatre and performance. Its first use has been traced back to Aristotle's Poetics. It is now taken up by theatre critics, historians, and theorists to describe the mise en scène of a performance or theatrical event.-Origins:Opsis comes from the...
or "spectacle"
Content
Aristotle's work on aestheticsAesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
consists of the Poetics and Rhetoric
Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
. The Poetics is specifically concerned with drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
. At some point, Aristotle's original work was divided in two, each "book" written on a separate roll of papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
. Only the first part–that which focuses on tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
–survives. The lost second part addressed comedy. Scholars speculate that the Tractatus coislinianus
Tractatus coislinianus
The Tractatus Coislinianus is a manuscript outlining a theory of comedy in the tradition of the Poetics of Aristotle.-Dramatic theory:The Tractatus states that comedy invokes laughter and pleasure, thus purging those emotions , in a manner parallel to the description of tragedy in the Poetics...
summarises the contents of the lost second book.
Aristotle distinguishes between the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s of "poetry" in three ways:
- Matter
-
- languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, rhythmRhythmRhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
, and melodyMelodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, for Aristotle, make up the matter of poetic creation. Where the epic poem makes use of language alone, the playing of the lyre involves rhythm and melody. Some poetic forms include a blending of all materials; for example, Greek tragic drama included a singing chorus, and so music and language were all part of the performance.- Subjects
- Also "agents" in some translations. Aristotle differentiates between tragedyTragedyTragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
and comedyComedyComedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
throughout the work by distinguishing between the nature of the human characters that populate either form. Aristotle finds that tragedy treats of serious, important, and virtuous people. Comedy, on the other hand, treats of people who are less virtuous, who are unimportant, undignified, laughable.- Method
- In one of the more confusing parts of the work, Aristotle argues that comedy and tragedy might make use of the same matter and thematic elements, but approach them in a different way.
- language
Having examined briefly the field of "poetry" in general, Aristotle proceeds to his definition of tragedy:
Tragedy is a representationMimesisMimesis , from μιμεῖσθαι , "to imitate," from μῖμος , "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the...
of a serious, complete action which has magnitude, in embellished speech, with each of its elements [used] separately in the [various] parts [of the play] and [represented] by people acting and not by narrationDiegesisDiegesis is a style of representation in fiction and is:# the world in which the situations and events narrated occur; and# telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting.In diegesis the narrator tells the story...
, accomplishing by means of pity and terror the catharsisCatharsisCatharsis or katharsis is a Greek word meaning "cleansing" or "purging". It is derived from the verb καθαίρειν, kathairein, "to purify, purge," and it is related to the adjective καθαρός, katharos, "pure or clean."-Dramatic uses:...
of such emotions.By "embellished speech", I mean that which has rhythm and melody, i.e. song. By "with its elements separately", I mean that some [parts of it] are accomplished only by means of spoken verses, and others again by means of song (1449b25-30).
Tragedy consists of six parts which Aristotle enumerates in order of importance, beginning with the most essential and ending with the least:
- plot (mythosMythos (Aristotle)Mythos is the term used by Aristotle in his Poetics for the plot of an Athenian tragedy. It is the first of the six elements of tragedy that he gives.- Variations on plot :...
)
-
- Refers to the "structure of incidents" (actions). Key elements of the plot are reversals, recognitions, and suffering. The best plot should be "complex" (i.e. involve a change of fortune). It should imitate actions arousing fear and pity. Thus it should proceed from good fortune to bad and involve a high degree of suffering for the protagonist, usually involving physical harm or death.
-
- Actions should be logical and follow naturally from actions that precede them. They will be more satisfying to the audience if they come about by surprise or seeming coincidence and are only afterward seen as logical, even necessary.
-
- When a character is unfortunate by reversal(s) of fortune (peripeteiaPeripeteiaPeripeteia is a reversal of circumstances, or turning point. The term is primarily used with reference to works of literature. The English form of peripeteia is peripety. Peripety is a sudden reversal dependent on intellect and logic...
), at first he suffers (pathosPathosPathos represents an appeal to the audience's emotions. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric , and in literature, film and other narrative art....
) and then he can realize (anagnorisisAnagnorisisAnagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for...
) the cause of his misery or a way to be released from the misery.
- When a character is unfortunate by reversal(s) of fortune (peripeteia
- characterCharacter (arts)A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
(ethosEthosEthos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
)
-
- It is much better if a tragical accident happens to a hero because of a mistake he makes (hamartiaHamartiaHamartia is a term developed by Aristotle in his work Poetics. The word hamartia is rooted in the notion of missing the mark and covers a broad spectrum that includes ignorant, mistaken, or accidental wrongdoing, as well as deliberate iniquity, error, or sin...
) instead of things which might happen anyway. That is because the audience is more likely to be "moved" by it. A hero may have made it knowingly (in MedeaMedeaMedea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
) or unknowingly (OedipusOedipusOedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
). A hero may leave a deed undone (due to timely discovery, knowledge present at the point of doing deed ...). - Main character should be
- good - Aristotle explains that audiences do not like, for example, villains "making fortune from misery" in the end. It might happen though, and might make the play interesting. Nevertheless, the moral is at stake here and morals are important to make people happy (people can, for example, see tragedy because they want to release their anger)
- appropriate–if a character is supposed to be wise, it is unlikely he is young (supposing wisdom is gained with age)
- consistent–if a person is a soldier, he is unlikely to be scared of blood (if this soldier is scared of blood it must be explained and play some role in the story to avoid confusing the audience); it is also "good" if a character doesn't change opinion "that much" if the play is not "driven" by who characters are, but by what they do (audience is confused in case of unexpected shifts in behaviour [and its reasons, morals ...] of characters)
- "consistently inconsistent"–if a character always behaves foolishly it is strange if he suddenly becomes smart. In this case it would be good to explain such change, otherwise the audience may be confused. If character changes opinion a lot it should be clear he is a character who has this trait, not a real life person - this is also to avoid confusion
- thought (dianoiaDianoiaDianoia is a term used by Plato for a type of thinking, specifically about mathematical and technical subjects. It is the capacity for, process of, or result of discursive thinking, in contrast with the immediate apprehension that is characteristic of noesis...
)–spoken (usually) reasoning of human characters can explain the characters or story background ... - diction (lexisLexis (Aristotle)In philosophical discourse, lexis refers to a complete group of words in a language, vocabulary, the total set of all words in a language, and all words that have meaning or a function in grammar.- Lexis according to Plato :...
)
- thought (dianoia
- Refers to the quality of speech in tragedy. Speeches should reflect character, the moral qualities of those on the stage.
- melody (melos)
- The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors. It should be an integral part of the whole, and share in the action
- spectacle (opsisOpsisOpsis ὄψις is the Greek word for spectacle in the theatre and performance. Its first use has been traced back to Aristotle's Poetics. It is now taken up by theatre critics, historians, and theorists to describe the mise en scène of a performance or theatrical event.-Origins:Opsis comes from the...
)
- spectacle (opsis
- Refers to the visual apparatus of the play, including set, costumes and props. Aristotle calls spectacle the "least artistic" element of tragedy, and the "least connected with the work of the poet (playwright). For example: if the play has "beautiful" costumes and "bad" acting and "bad" story, there is "something wrong" with it. Even though that "beauty" may save the play it is "not a nice thing".
- It is much better if a tragical accident happens to a hero because of a mistake he makes (hamartia
He offers the earliest-surviving explanation for the origins of tragedy and comedy:
Anyway, arising from an improvisatoryImprovisationImprovisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
beginning (both tragedy and comedy—tragedy from the leaders of the dithyrambDithyrambThe dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god: Plato, in The Laws, while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb." Plato also...
, and comedy from the leaders of the phallic processionsFertility riteFertility rites are religious rituals that reenact, either actually or symbolically, sexual acts and/or reproductive processes: 'sexual intoxication is a typical component of the...rites of the various functional gods who control reproduction, whether of man, beast, cattle, or grains of seed'..They...
which even now continue as a custom in many of our cities) [...] (1449a10-13)
Influence
Poetics is considered to have been less influential in its time compared with what is generally understood to be its more famous contemporary, Rhetoric. This is probably because in Aristotle's time rhetoric and poetics were classified as sort of siblings in the pantheon of ideal things. Because of rhetoric's direct importance for law and politics, it evolved to become, to a large degree, distinct from poetics, in spite of both themas being classified under aesthetics in the Aristotelian system of metaphysics. In this sense, rhetoric and poetics are two sides of the same thing—the aesthetic dimension. In Aristotelian philosophy, this is regarded as one of the metaphysical aspects of things; in the Kantian view of the pure aesthetic, it is understood as something non-conceptual that frees the mind.The Arabic version of Aristotle’s Poetics that influenced the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
was translated from a Greek manuscript dated to sometime prior to the year 700. This manuscript was translated from Greek to Syriac and is independent of the currently-accepted 11th-century source designated Paris 1741. The Syriac language
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
source used for the Arabic translations departed widely in vocabulary from the original Poetics and it initiated a misinterpretation of Aristotelian thought that continued through the Middle Ages.
There are two different Arabic interpretations of Aristotle’s Poetics in commentaries by Abu Nasr al-Farabi
Al-Farabi
' known in the West as Alpharabius , was a scientist and philosopher of the Islamic world...
and Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
(i.e., Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd).
Al-Farabi’s treatise endeavors to establish poetry as a logical faculty of expression, giving it validity in the Islamic world. Averroes’ commentary attempts to harmonize his assessment of the Poetics with al-Farabi’s, but he is ultimately unable to reconcile his ascription of moral purpose to poetry with al-Farabi’s logical interpretation.
Averroes' interpretation of the Poetics was accepted by the West
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
because of its relevance to their humanistic
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
viewpoints. Occasionally the philosophers of the Middle Ages even preferred Averroes’ commentary to Aristotle's stated sense. This resulted in the survival of Aristotle’s Poetics through the Arabic literary tradition.
English translations
- Thomas TwiningThomas TwiningThomas Twining may refer to:*Thomas Twining , English merchant and founder of the Twinings tea company*Thomas Twining , English scholar and classicist, grandson of the above...
, 1789 - Samuel Henry ButcherSamuel Henry ButcherSamuel Henry Butcher was an Anglo-Irish classical scholar.Samuel Henry Butcher was born in Dublin to Samuel Butcher, Bishop of Meath. John Butcher, 1st Baron Danesfort was his younger brother. He became an eminent classical scholar and, in his final years, an English politician...
, 1902: full text - Ingram BywaterIngram BywaterIngram Bywater was an English classical scholar.He was born in London. He was educated at University College School and King's College School, then at Queens College, Oxford...
, 1909: full text - William Hamilton FyfeWilliam Hamilton FyfeSir William Hamilton Fyfe was an English and Canadian classics scholar, educator, and educational administrator. He served as the 10th Principal of Queen's University, Ontario, from 1930 to 1936, and was the first layman to hold that position. He served as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the...
, 1926: full text - L. J. Potts, 1953
- G. M. A. Grube, 1958
- Richard Janko, 1987
- Stephen Halliwell, 1987
- Stephen Halliwell, 1995 (Loeb Classical Library)
- Malcolm Heath, 1996 (Penguin Classics)
- Seth Benardete and Michael Davis, 2002 (St. Augustine's Press)
Popular culture
The Poetics—both the extantExtant literature
Extant literature refers to texts that have survived from the past to the present time. Extant literature can be divided into extant original manuscripts, copies of original manuscripts, quotations and paraphrases of passages of non-extant texts contained in other works, translations of non-extant...
first book and the lost second book—figure prominently in Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
's novel The Name of the Rose
The Name of the Rose
The Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
.
External links
- librivox.org audio recording
- Aristotle's Poetics: Perseus Digital Library edition.
- Greek text from Hodoi elektronikai
- Critical edition (Oxford Classical TextsOxford Classical TextsOxford Classical Texts , or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus...
) by Ingram BywaterIngram BywaterIngram Bywater was an English classical scholar.He was born in London. He was educated at University College School and King's College School, then at Queens College, Oxford... - Seven parallel translations of Poetics: Russian, English, French