Poetry Advice
(An analysis of Virginia Woolf’s poetry advice compared to Aristotle, Pope, and Wordsworth)
There are many different ways to be creative. There is not one right or wrong way to write a poem, sing a song, or paint a picture. However, you can always improve any of these things. Virginia Woolf is a strong supporter of self-improvement, and she believes that a little advice on a matter can go a long way. During her time, Virginia Woolf was one of the most gifted of the modernist writers. In 1932, she wrote an essay in the form of a letter called, Letter to a Young Poet. Here, she documented her thoughts on poetry for a large audience to read. Ironically, she would never consider herself a poet, but she was very educated in rhythmic
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Aristotle was a Greek philosopher born around 384 BC. He was a very well educated man with a wide range of interests. However, one of those interests was poetry. During the time when he wrote Poetics, it was considered the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory. In Poetics, he offers an account of what he would call poetry. He analyses the most important aspects of a good poem, many of which turn out to be similar to what Virginia Woolf believes. In Letter to a Young Poet, Woolf explains the importance of a strong character. “I say, that poetry has done all this why should it not once more open its eyes, look out of the window and write about other people...Your pages were crammed with character s of the most opposite and various of kinds” (Woolf). She believes that poetry always used to have strong characters, such as Cleopatra, Hamlet, or Falstaff, but now poetry has gotten off track. She goes on to say that if a poet wants to get back into the subsidies of human character, then the poet needs to get out and go into the real world. Aristotle believed that strong characters were almost as important as the plot itself. You cannot have a good performance without a villain or hero that the audience can relate …show more content…
Alexander was an 18th century poet, who befriended many other poets as collaborated with them during his lifetime. His most well known piece of work was The Rape of the Lock. It is a satire poem that pokes fun of a woman who is not as innocent as suspected. When a lock of her hair gets cut off, she acts as though she has been stabbed. Clearly this is an amusing poem, that Alexander Pope had fun writing. However, in Letter to a Young Poet, Virginia Woolf explains the importance of having fun when you write. “But it is of the utmost importance that readers should be amused, writers acquiesce…There is no harm in it, so long as you take it as a joke…You have a touch of Chaucer in you” (Woolf). She was a big fan of Chaucer, who goes down in history as one of the best satirical writer. Mort importantly, this shows that she appreciates the amusing tone that satire creates. The Rape of the Lock is considered a very humorous piece that Virginia Woolf would have approved
important then the actual characters in the play. By this Aristotle means that it must be structured as
Aristotle’s Poetics is a “reservoir of the themes and schemes deployed in ancient Greek tragedy and poetry” (Poetics iii). Written around 330 B.C., it was the first work of literature to make a distinction amongst the various literary genres and provide a proper analysis of them. In Poetics, Aristotle places a big emphasis on the genre of tragedy. When one hears of the word tragedy, one already assumes that something bad has occurred to an individual and an immediate emotion of sorrow occurs, but how does Aristotle see tragedy? Aristotle gives us his formal definition of tragedy on page 10: “Tragedy 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; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.” He goes on and explains all the components that make up tragedy. A tragedy must fall into two parts: complication and unraveling (also known as the denouement). Aristotle elaborates on that and speaks of four types of tragedy: “the Complex, depending entirely on Reversal of the Situation and Recognition; the Pathetic (where the motive is passion); the Ethical (where the motives are ethical). The fourth kind is the Simple.
In Sophocles’ work, Oedipus the King, Oedipus definitely fits Aristotle’s meaning of a tragic hero which is a man of honorable importance. He is not a usual man, but a man with outstanding superiority and immensity about himself. A man of his own ruins goes for a greater cause or principle. Oedipus conveys many mistakes. In the play Oedipus the King, things really had taken a turn from good to bad. Using Aristotle’s meaning defines will be proven that Oedipus is a 1main example of a tragic hero Nobleness, Tragic flaw, and Hardship are all characteristics that Aristotle described as to what a tragic hero really define as. These are also four features Oedipus proves his well- being of a catastrophic hero.
“Tragedy is an imitation of an action of high importance . . .” states Aristotle in his book Poetics (as cited in Kennedy & Gioia, 2010). Without a doubt, he observed and analyzed countless plays throughout his life and in Poetics, he writes a broad description of what a tragedy should contain (Kennedy & Gioia). Specifically, to Aristotle, tragedies require a “Tragic Hero.” What makes this literary character unique from the other heroes of literature? The most obvious and central difference is that the hero in question always experiences a disastrous reversal of fortune, which follows the recognition of a previously unknown truth (Kennedy & Gioia). He must be “a man not preeminently virtuous or just” (Poetics part XIII, trans. 1909), yet he still must be a “good person” whom the audience grows to respect and because of this, deeply pities and fears for throughout the play (Poetics part XIII). Despite being a person of high estate and influence, surprisingly, the hero in the Greek tragedy is someone we can relate to in his humanness. Furthermore, his fall “from happiness into misery” is “brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment” (Poetics part XIII)—his hamartia. The Oxford English Dictionary translates this Greek word as, “The fault or error, which entails the destruction of the tragic hero” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989).
Aristotle believed that the protagonist of a tragedy should be “good or fine”. (3) He must be considered a successful man in order for his life to go from good to bad. Willy sold for a living, but he was not prosperous. He borrowed from his neighbor Charley so he could pay for the appliances that were out of his budget. Aristotle would disagree that Willy was a tragic man rather than a pathetic on...
Many years ago in ancient Greece, Plato initiated a debate about the usefulness of literature by declaring that poetry had no place in the ideal society, mainly because it was full of lies and because it evoked undesirable emotions. His pupil Aristotle, however, took the opposing side of this dispute and argued that literature was, in fact, useful. Aristotle agreed with Plato that literature induces undesirable emotions, but he stated that it only does so in an attempt to purge us of these harmful sentiments, a process which he termed “catharsis”. The events in Homer’s Iliad, while used by both Plato and Aristotle to defend their theories about literature, lend themselves to the defense of Aristotle’s ideas more so than Plato’s. Specifically, the juxtaposition of Achilleus’s intense lamentation with the portrayal of Hephaistos’s shield, the description of Hektor’s increasing pride, and the account of Patroklos’s impulsive nature in battle all perfectly exemplify Aristotle’s idea of catharsis and demonstrate the true worth of literature.
Aristotle defined tragedy in his respected piece Poetics that defined the tragedy and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience.
In 'The Rape of the Lock' Alexander Pope (1688-1744) employs a mock-epic style to satirise the 'beau-monde' (fashionable world, society of the elite) of eighteenth century England. The richness of the poem, however, reveals more than a straightforward satirical attack. Alongside the criticism we can detect Pope's fascination with, and perhaps admiration for, Belinda and the society in which she moves. Pope himself was not part of the 'beau-monde'. He knew the families on which the poem is based but his own parents, though probably comfortably off, were not so rich or of the class one would have to be in to move in Belinda's circle. He associated with learned men and poets, and there can have been little common ground between the company he kept at Will's Coffee House and those who frequented Hampton Court.
One might think of a tragedy being a terrible and destructible event in one’s life that causes great pain and may contain great loss. One particular play written by William Shakespeare – one of the most well known poets in history, happens to be a tragedy-filled story. Othello, the Moor of Venice, set during the captivating renaissance era portrays a character named Othello who reveals characteristics of a tragic hero. The brilliant philosopher Aristotle from the fourth century B.C. developed his own definition and idea of what a tragic hero is. Eric Engle, author of “Aristotle, Law and Justice: The Tragic Hero,” said, Due to Aristotle’s influence, his tragic flaw has distorted western thought ever since its conception” (Engle). “The enquiry of whether Othello is a true tragic hero is debatable. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero was a protagonist who is socially superior to others, but then has a downfall due to a “tragic flaw,” typically caused by the character’s solitary weakness. Due to Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, Othello possesses the qualities from his definition that fulfill the role of being a tragic hero.
Aristotle and Alexander Pope have a heavy influence on the poetic community when it comes to comprehension, elements to look for, and writing style and structure. Aristotle is a clear storyteller with a favor towards tragedy with pain and inevitable human suffering. Pope believes that humans should learn by connecting with nature and find what is essential in life. Aristotle has chaotic and vast majority of styles, whole Pope is more clear and concrete, but no matter how they choose their poems there is a sense of concern in each scholar. This concern lies in the community, how they should learn to express emotion, and what qualities in literature are the most important to teach first. This comprehension also relates to your audience being both intellectual observant scholars and entertainment poetics readers because the message needs to be clear enough for both groups, but interesting enough to have people keep writing your stories. Aristotle and Alexander have both had a large influence on the poetic community that has changed the landscape for years to come, and will continue to inspire future
He not only allows a woman to be the heroin, but he exposes emotions and situations which were not necessarily acceptable at his time. Aristotle felt that “even a woman may be good,..though a woman may be said to be an inferior being.” Here it is seen that although Aristotle acknowledges that a dramatist could use a female as a tragic hero, he advises against it. He certainly would not have approved of the strong and complex character Ibsen invented in Mrs. Alving. Ibsen’s apparent separation from the traditional idea of tragedy seems to highlight the already controversial themes.
Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is a satirical poem that features a theme of gender roles. Throughout the poem, Pope uses his protagonist Belinda, to poke fun at the superficial nature of aristocratic women. He focuses on the ritual of womanhood and approaches it like a trivial matter, and her reaction to the offence is hysterical. Through this portrayal, he reveals that the Baron has a childish quality in his need for revenge for Belinda’s stab at his ego. The speaker’s view does come across as misogynistic, but the woman is trying to stand her ground in a society dominated by men. Taking into consideration that a male wrote the poem, during the 18th century, when woman had a particular place in society, and men often trivialized their concerns. Pope alludes to the idea that most wars are indeed over very trivial matters. The conflicts between men and women are exposed during Pope’s exploration of this “trivial war.” The narrative of Belinda and the Baron in The Rape of the Lock reveals the main underlying theme as the power struggle between the genders.
George is an intelligent character and his education shoes when he speaks. His intelligence is displayed with his eloquent way of speaking.
In Aristotle’s book, Poetics, he defines tragedy as, “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in the different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear” (Aristotle 1149). Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain of actions that clearly gives the audience ideas of possible events. The six parts to Aristotle’s elements of tragedy are: Plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. According to Aristotle, the most important element is the plot. Aristotle writes in Poetics that, “It is not for the purpose of presenting their characters that the agents engage in action, but rather it is for the sake of their actions that they take on the characters they have” (Aristotle 1150). Plots should have a beginning, middle, and end that have a unity of actions throughout the play making it complete. In addition, the plot should be complex making it an effective tragedy. The second most important element is character. Characters...
...n Aristotle’s view of characters. Aristotle also suggests that a tragedy should have the power to provoke audience’s emotion of pity and fear. The suffering and behavior of each character in Hamlet possess that power. The author agrees with the Aristotelian analysis of Hamlet, the story of Hamlet was perfectly based on Aristotle’s tragedy theory. However, the author thinks that the tragedy doesn’t always have to end up in misery. A tragic story can also have some hidden happiness in the suffering, misery of tragic hero(s), in which way can audience realize that there is still hopeful when your life is tragic and encourage people to strive hard to create a better life.