The value of imitation: a vision of Aristotle's Poetics
Aristotle wrote his Poetics thousands of years before Matthew Arnold's birth. His reasons for composing it were different from Arnold's reasons for using it as an element of his own poetic criticism. We can safely say that Arnold was inclined to use the Poetics as an inspiration for his own poetry, and as a cultural weapon in the fight for artistic and social renewal. Aristotle, by contrast, was more concerned with discovering general truths, and with formalising truths already known intuitively within his own society.
I wish, in this article, to make some observations about the way in which some of the seminal ideas in the Poetics affected one key writer within the English literary tradition. Curiously enough the first thing to be said about Arnold's view of Aristotle is that it is more a Platonic than an Aristotelian view. In short Arnold was primarily, though not merely, an idealist. If, for the sake of clarity we could for the purpose of this analysis call Aristotle a realist, we might be better able to see the proper scope of this account. What we have then is the case of a man who was primarily a scientist and philosopher -- a realist in the best sense of the word, influencing a poet and visionary -- an idealist in the best sense of the word.
I have decided, despite many references in Arnold's work to Aristotelian ideas generally, to concentrate on one piece of work by Arnold; a piece of work where he more specifically refers to Aristotelian ideas of imitation. This is the 1853 Preface to The Poems of Matthew Arnold 1840-1866. I will therefore, where appropriate, compare and contrast this Preface to the Poetics. Such an approach gives us a chance to look at Ari...
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... by Ingram Bywater (Oxford 1909).
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Aristotle is one of the most important western philosophers in history that has influenced our society in many aspects. Many of Aristotle’s teachings have affected our world for many years and still continue to have such a big impact. Some of the subjects Aristotle has influenced include: logic, physics, government and poetry. Aristotle’s study of poetry mainly focused on the elements to a good tragedy. Some of his elements have been used in Greek tragedies and modern movies. The Greek play, Medea, and the modern movie, No Country for Old Men, use elements from Aristotle philosophy, while using similar and different techniques but both achieving an effective tragedy.
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Aristotle defined philosophy as the love of wisdom in logic, ethics, and metaphysics. He classified logic as a tool to get deeper into philosophy and his studies. He thinks of logic as a toolbox for philosophy and that philosophers carry logic with them to do their work, but they don 't consider it part of their work. He also said that logic is the handmaid of philosophy. Aristotle’s followers, the Peripatetics called his works of logic Oranon. He divides philosophy into three different branches which are, Theoretical Philosophy, Practical Philosophical, and Poetic Philosophy. Theoretical Philosophy is physics or natural philosophy, mathematics, and metaphysics. Practical Philosophy is the philosophy of politics and ethics. Poetic Philosophy is the philosophy of aesthetics or theory of art. Aristotle also has his own branch of philosophy with Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, and more. Theoretical Philosophy was Aristotle’s favorite because it was the study of animals and nature, he liked to study animal and plant specimens from his travels. Aristotle made a huge contribution to philosophy because of the way he organized it. He was one of the best philosopher in history and without his studies we might not even know about half of the stuff we know
In the early eighteenth century England witnessed the peak of the tumultuous changes that is presently known as the Age of Enlightenment. Trapped deep within the chaotic changes of politics, religion, art and social mores, Alexander Pope proved a master at exploiting these changes circumstances in order to become an admired poet. (page 558, Wilson)