The Relevance of Aristotle’s Poetics to the World Today
The Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje, in his last novel titled In the Skin of a Lion, wrote that "the first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human" (Ondaatje 223). Ondaatje noted that what makes a novel a novel is order or, as that order is sometimes referred to today, plot and structure. It is that structure that we, as both the audience and the artist, rely on to understand and appreciate a work of art. But, even though Ondaatje noticed the order necessary, he did not do what has been done before--offer an explanation, or rather, a definition of that order. Over two-thousand years before Ondaatje wrote that line, Aristotle, in his Poetics, did attempt to define the order necessary for a work of art, whether it be literary, visual, or performance-based, to be successful. But we, as modern critics and artists, must ask, can a theory proposed so many years ago still be worthy or interpretation and study today? Even a quick look at the literature and the theater produced in the last couple of centuries would reveal the public's answer: Much of the great art of the world is great because of its reliance on and adherence to Aristotle's theories and definitions as well as a confidence in the new suppositions that have arisen out of Aristotle's words.
Before one can apply the theories of Aristotle to the world today, a brief presentation of a few of the most notable of those theories must be examined. The first of these theories is now referred to as Aristotle's Unities; although, only one of the three unities can be directly attributed to the words of Aristotle. In book ...
... middle of paper ...
...wise, the longest running Broadway play of all time, Cats, certainly cannot be classified as the universal and clearly neglects the three unities. Finally, most literature scholars would agree that James Joyce's Ulysses is a classic in literature, but, as it created its own style of literature, does not conform to any of Aristotle's principals. It is clear though, with an influence in so many works of art, both past and contemporary, that, while maybe not a necessity, Aristotle's theories certainly are worthy of a careful study.
Works Cited
Aristotle. "Poetics." Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Ed. Bernard F. Dukore. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1974. 31-55.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Ondaatje, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion. Chicago: Penguin Publishers, 1987
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
6th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
2nd ed. of the book. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center -. Web.
Spartan society was one of the most unconventional of all time. Men dedicated their lives to war, and women devoted their lives to bearing a strong child. Helots provided a source of labor for the citizens, while the government controlled almost every aspect of Spartan life. Each group had a distinct role in society, and in turn, helped to shape the state’s culture. The fertile lands of the Eurotas valley helped determine the agricultural lifestyle of the state, while the Taygetus mountain range provided natural borders to Sparta. Without any one of these factors or the parts they played, Spartan culture would have been tremendously different, and would not be the legend it is today.
But Spartan society itself changed, evolving into a city-state. The state determined whether children, both male and female, were strong when they were born, leaving the weak in the hills to perish. At the age of seven, every male Spartan was sent to military and athletic school teaching discipline, endurance of pain, and survival skills. At twenty, the Spartan became a soldier spending his life with his fellow soldiers to live in barracks with his fellow soldiers. Only at the age of thirty, did the Spartan become an "equal," and was allowed to live in his own house with his own family, although he continued to serve in the military. Military service ended at the age of sixty.
The first principle that Aristotle outlines in Poetics is that of the plot, and according to him, the most important feature in a play. He defines the plot as “the arrangement of incidents”, meaning the structure of the play. Aristotle believes that the plot must be “a whole”, “complex”, “of certain magnitude”, and must be “complete” having “unity of action” (McManus). Molière’s Tartuffe fits this criterion perfectly. The play is considered to be whole in that i...
Miller, Fred. "Aristotle's Political Theory". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Fall 2012. Web 06 Nov 2013.
If the young men passed, they continued to live in the barracks and train as soldiers but were required to wed to produce new young Spartans. The state gave them land, which was tended by slaves. At age 30 the Spartans could finally live with there families, but they still had to train. Finally at age 60 a Spartan ...
The Spartan’s were a highly developed warrior based society. They came into the major military power through their highly developed military strategy. The men were required to be a part of the military if they were to be future citizens. The Spartans had a highly revered group of men, who decided if a
In Poetics, Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents” (Aristotle 12). He indicates that there are six elements in every tragic play, which are plot, character, thought, diction, melody and spectacle, among these plot is placed in the foremost positi...
courage as a virtue. Before long the Spartan way of life was more show then
The sixth and least important in Aristotle’s point of view is that of Spectacle, or costumes and props. This is the least important because Aristotle believes that the plot will overcome all the rest. Although Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear; those who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous”(http://www.cnr.edu/home/).
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967. Dorsch, T. R., trans. and ed. Aristotle Horace Longinus: Classical Literary Criticism. New York: Penguin, 1965. Ley, Graham. The Ancient Greek Theater. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991. Reinhold, Meyer. Classical Drama, Greek and Roman. New York: Barrons, 1959.