Aristotle – Poetics

Pgs 43 – 50
1. The kinds of Poetry
a. Non-representational
i. Historical
ii. Educational
1. Instructional
2. Theoretical

b. Representational
i. Narrative
ii. Dramatic
1. Comedy
2. Tragedy
3. Mimes
4. Satyr-plays
2. Catharsis in tragedy
a. “Tragedy reduces the soul’s emotions of pity and terror by means of compassion and dread. It
wishes to have a due proportion of terror. It has pain as its mother.”
3. The nature of comedy
a. The Definition of Comedy – “comedy is a representation of an action that is laughable and lacking
in magnitude, complete, with each of its parts used separately in the various elements of the play;
represented by people acting and not by narration; accomplishing by means of pleasure and
laughter the catharsis of such emotions. It has laughter as its mother.”
b. The nature of laughter – comes from diction and incidents
i. Laughter from diction
1. Homonomy – Sounding similar
2. Synonymy – similar meaning
3. Verbosity – calling something of the same name
4. Paronymy – changing the meaning by addition or subtraction
5. Parody – to mockingly imitate
6. Metaphor
7. Form of diction
ii. Laughter from the incidents
1. Deception
2. Making something similar to something else.
3. From the impossible
4. From the inconsequential
5. From the unexpected
6. From evil
7. From vulgar dancing
8. When the powerful give up their power.
9. When the argument is disjointed
c. The objects of comic laughter
i. Comedy is different from abuse because it is more subtle.
ii. It aims to expose errors of body and soul.
d. Catharsis in comedy and tragedy
i. People want terror in tragedies and laughs in comedies.
4. The parts of comedy
 a. The qualitative parts of comedy
i. Comic plot is one which is structured around laughable actions.
ii. Characters are buffoonish, ironical, and boasters
iii. The parts of reasoning
1. General statements
2. Proofs
a. Oaths
b. Agreements
c. Testimonies
d. Ordeals
e. Laws
iv. Utilizes music
v. Spectacle
b. The quantitative parts of comedy
i. Prologue
ii. Choral
iii. Episode
iv. Exit
c. The three kinds of comedy
i. Old – tends towards excess
ii. New – abandons that; inclines toward the grand
iii. Middle – mix of both

1. The field of the enquiry – a discussion of how poetry is sorted into the categories at the top.
a. The kinds of poetry are classified according to representation
i. The kind of poetry (representational or non-representational) depends on its format (song
or verse…).
b. The kinds of poetry are classified according to the manner of representation
i. Poetry divided according to the manner in which representation is produced
1. Narrative – epic
2. Dramatic – enacted (comedy and tragedy)
c. The kinds of poetry are classified according to the objects of the representation.
i. Dramatic poetry depends on the subjects it portrays or satirizes.
2. The function of tragedy
a. Tragedy provides catharsis for painful human emotions.