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Aristoteles, Poetics
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Poetics
y Aristotle
Translated by S. !. utcher
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S#CTI$% &
Part I
I propose to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various 'inds,
noting the essential (uality of each, to in(uire into the structure
of the plot as re(uisite to a good poem) into the number and natureof the parts of *hich a poem is composed) and similarly into *hatever
else falls *ithin the same in(uiry. +ollo*ing, then, the order of
nature, let us begin *ith the principles *hich come first.
#pic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and ithyrambic poetry, and the
music of the flute and of the lyre in most of their forms, are allin their general conception modes of imitation. They differ, ho*ever,from one another in three respects" the medium, the ob-ects, the manner
or mode of imitation, being in each case distinct.
+or as there are persons *ho, by conscious art or mere habit, imitate
and represent various ob-ects through the medium of color and form,
or again by the voice) so in the arts above mentioned, ta'en as a*hole, the imitation is produced by rhythm, language, or harmony,
either singly or combined.
Thus in the music of the flute and of the lyre, harmony and rhythmalone are employed) also in other arts, such as that of the shepherds
pipe, *hich are essentially similar to these. In dancing, rhythm alone
is used *ithout harmony) for even dancing imitates character, emotion,and action, by rhythmical movement.
There is another art *hich imitates by means of language alone, andthat either in prose or verse" *hich verse, again, may either combine
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different meters or consist of but one 'ind" but this has hitherto
been *ithout a name. +or there is no common term *e could apply tothe mimes of Sophron and enarchus and the Socratic dialogues on the
one hand) and, on the other, to poetic imitations in iambic, elegiac,
or any similar meter. People do, indeed, add the *ord ma'er or poet
to the name of the meter, and spea' of elegiac poets, or epic 0thatis, he1ameter2 poets, as if it *ere not the imitation that ma'es the
poet, but the verse that entitles them all to the name. #ven *hen
a treatise on medicine or natural science is brought out in verse,the name of poet is by custom given to the author) and yet !omer and
#mpedocles have nothing in common but the meter, so that it *ould
be right to call the one poet, the other physicist rather than poet.$n the same principle, even if a *riter in his poetic imitation *ere
to combine all meters, as Chaeremon did in his Centaur, *hich is a
medley composed of meters of all 'inds, *e should bring him too under
the general term poet.
So much then for these distinctions.
There are, again, some arts *hich employ all the means above mentioned"namely, rhythm, tune, and meter. Such are ithyrambic and %omic poetry,
and also Tragedy and Comedy) but bet*een them originally the difference
is, that in the first t*o cases these means are all employed in combination,in the latter, no* one means is employed, no* another.
Such, then, are the differences of the arts *ith respect to the mediumof imitation
Part II
Since the ob-ects of imitation are men in action, and these men must
be either of a higher or a lo*er type 0for moral character mainly
ans*ers to these divisions, goodness and badness being the distinguishingmar's of moral differences2, it follo*s that *e must represent men
either as better than in real life, or as *orse, or as they are. It
is the same in painting. Polygnotus depicted men as nobler than theyare, Pauson as less noble, ionysius dre* them true to life.
%o* it is evident that each of the modes of imitation above mentioned
*ill e1hibit these differences, and become a distinct 'ind in imitatingob-ects that are thus distinct. Such diversities may be found even
in dancing, flute"playing, and lyre"playing. So again in language,
*hether prose or verse unaccompanied by music. !omer, for e1ample,ma'es men better than they are) Cleophon as they are) !egemon the
Thasian, the inventor of parodies, and %icochares, the author of the
eiliad, *orse than they are. The same thing holds good of ithyrambsand %omes) here too one may portray different types, as Timotheus
and Philo1enus differed in representing their Cyclopes. The same distinction
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mar's off Tragedy from Comedy) for Comedy aims at representing men
as *orse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.
Part III
There is still a third difference" the manner in *hich each of theseob-ects may be imitated. +or the medium being the same, and the ob-ects
the same, the poet may imitate by narration" in *hich case he can
either ta'e another personality as !omer does, or spea' in his o*nperson, unchanged" or he may present all his characters as living
and moving before us.
These, then, as *e said at the beginning, are the three differences
*hich distinguish artistic imitation" the medium, the ob-ects, and
the manner. So that from one point of vie*, Sophocles is an imitator
of the same 'ind as !omer" for both imitate higher types of character)from another point of vie*, of the same 'ind as Aristophanes" for
both imitate persons acting and doing. !ence, some say, the name of
drama is given to such poems, as representing action. +or the samereason the orians claim the invention both of Tragedy and Comedy.
The claim to Comedy is put for*ard by the 3egarians" not only by those
of 4reece proper, *ho allege that it originated under their democracy,but also by the 3egarians of Sicily, for the poet #picharmus, *ho
is much earlier than Chionides and 3agnes, belonged to that country.
Tragedy too is claimed by certain orians of the Peloponnese. In eachcase they appeal to the evidence of language. The outlying villages,
they say, are by them called 'omai, by the Athenians demoi: and they
assume that comedians *ere so named not from 'oma5ein, to revel,
but because they *andered from village to village 0'ata 'omas2, beinge1cluded contemptuously from the city. They add also that the orian
*ord for doing is dran, and the Athenian, prattein.
This may suffice as to the number and nature of the various modes
of imitation.
Part I6
Poetry in general seems to have sprung from t*o causes, each of them
lying deep in our nature. +irst, the instinct of imitation is implantedin man from childhood, one difference bet*een him and other animals
being that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through
imitation learns his earliest lessons) and no less universal is thepleasure felt in things imitated. 7e have evidence of this in the
facts of e1perience. $b-ects *hich in themselves *e vie* *ith pain,
*e delight to contemplate *hen reproduced *ith minute fidelity: suchas the forms of the most ignoble animals and of dead bodies. The cause
of this again is, that to learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not
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only to philosophers but to men in general) *hose capacity, ho*ever,
of learning is more limited. Thus the reason *hy men en-oy seeinga li'eness is, that in contemplating it they find themselves learning
or inferring, and saying perhaps, Ah, that is he. +or if you happen
not to have seen the original, the pleasure *ill be due not to the
imitation as such, but to the e1ecution, the coloring, or some suchother cause.
Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. %e1t, there is theinstinct for harmony and rhythm, meters being manifestly sections
of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting *ith this natural gift developed
by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisationsgave birth to Poetry.
Poetry no* diverged in t*o directions, according to the individual
character of the *riters. The graver spirits imitated noble actions,and the actions of good men. The more trivial sort imitated the actions
of meaner persons, at first composing satires, as the former did hymns
to the gods and the praises of famous men. A poem of the satirical'ind cannot indeed be put do*n to any author earlier than !omer) though
many such *riters probably there *ere. ut from !omer on*ard, instances
can be cited" his o*n 3argites, for e1ample, and other similar compositions.The appropriate meter *as also here introduced) hence the measure
is still called the iambic or lampooning measure, being that in *hich
people lampooned one another. Thus the older poets *ere distinguishedas *riters of heroic or of lampooning verse.
As, in the serious style, !omer is pre"eminent among poets, for he
alone combined dramatic form *ith e1cellence of imitation so he toofirst laid do*n the main lines of comedy, by dramati5ing the ludicrous
instead of *riting personal satire. !is 3argites bears the same relation
to comedy that the Iliad and $dyssey do to tragedy. ut *hen Tragedyand Comedy came to light, the t*o classes of poets still follo*ed
their natural bent: the lampooners became *riters of Comedy, and the
#pic poets *ere succeeded by Tragedians, since the drama *as a largerand higher form of art.
7hether Tragedy has as yet perfected its proper types or not) and
*hether it is to be -udged in itself, or in relation also to the audience"this raises another (uestion. e that as it may, Tragedy" as also
Comedy" *as at first mere improvisation. The one originated *ith the
authors of the ithyramb, the other *ith those of the phallic songs,*hich are still in use in many of our cities. Tragedy advanced by
slo* degrees) each ne* element that sho*ed itself *as in turn developed.
!aving passed through many changes, it found its natural form, andthere it stopped.
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Aeschylus first introduced a second actor) he diminished the importance
of the Chorus, and assigned the leading part to the dialogue. Sophoclesraised the number of actors to three, and added scene"painting. 3oreover,
it *as not till late that the short plot *as discarded for one of
greater compass, and the grotes(ue diction of the earlier satyric
form for the stately manner of Tragedy. The iambic measure then replacedthe trochaic tetrameter, *hich *as originally employed *hen the poetry
*as of the satyric order, and had greater *ith dancing. $nce dialogue
had come in, %ature herself discovered the appropriate measure. +orthe iambic is, of all measures, the most collo(uial *e see it in the
fact that conversational speech runs into iambic lines more fre(uently
than into any other 'ind of verse) rarely into he1ameters, and only*hen *e drop the collo(uial intonation. The additions to the number
of episodes or acts, and the other accessories of *hich tradition
tells, must be ta'en as already described) for to discuss them in
detail *ould, doubtless, be a large underta'ing.
Part 6
Comedy is, as *e have said, an imitation of characters of a lo*er
type" not, ho*ever, in the full sense of the *ord bad, the ludicrous
being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defector ugliness *hich is not painful or destructive. To ta'e an obvious
e1ample, the comic mas' is ugly and distorted, but does not imply
pain.
The successive changes through *hich Tragedy passed, and the authors
of these changes, are *ell 'no*n, *hereas Comedy has had no history,
because it *as not at first treated seriously. It *as late beforethe Archon granted a comic chorus to a poet) the performers *ere till
then voluntary. Comedy had already ta'en definite shape *hen comic
poets, distinctively so called, are heard of. 7ho furnished it *ithmas's, or prologues, or increased the number of actors" these and
other similar details remain un'no*n. As for the plot, it came originally
from Sicily) but of Athenian *riters Crates *as the first *ho abandoningthe iambic or lampooning form, generali5ed his themes and plots.
#pic poetry agrees *ith Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in
verse of characters of a higher type. They differ in that #pic poetryadmits but one 'ind of meter and is narrative in form. They differ,
again, in their length: for Tragedy endeavors, as far as possible,
to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun, or but slightlyto e1ceed this limit, *hereas the #pic action has no limits of time.
This, then, is a second point of difference) though at first the same
freedom *as admitted in Tragedy as in #pic poetry.
$f their constituent parts some are common to both, some peculiar
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to Tragedy: *hoever, therefore 'no*s *hat is good or bad Tragedy,
'no*s also about #pic poetry. All the elements of an #pic poem arefound in Tragedy, but the elements of a Tragedy are not all found
in the #pic poem.
Part 6I
$f the poetry *hich imitates in he1ameter verse, and of Comedy, *e
*ill spea' hereafter. 8et us no* discuss Tragedy, resuming its formaldefinition, as resulting from *hat has been already said.
Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete,and of a certain magnitude) in language embellished *ith each 'ind
of artistic ornament, the several 'inds being found in separate parts
of the play) in the form of action, not of narrative) through pity
and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. y languageembellished, I mean language into *hich rhythm, harmony and song
enter. y the several 'inds in separate parts, I mean, that some
parts are rendered through the medium of verse alone, others again*ith the aid of song.
%o* as tragic imitation implies persons acting, it necessarily follo*sin the first place, that Spectacular e(uipment *ill be a part of Tragedy.
%e1t, Song and iction, for these are the media of imitation. y iction
I mean the mere metrical arrangement of the *ords: as for Song,it is a term *hose sense every one understands.
Again, Tragedy is the imitation of an action) and an action implies
personal agents, *ho necessarily possess certain distinctive (ualitiesboth of character and thought) for it is by these that *e (ualify
actions themselves, and these" thought and character" are the t*o
natural causes from *hich actions spring, and on actions again allsuccess or failure depends. !ence, the Plot is the imitation of the
action" for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the incidents.
y Character I mean that in virtue of *hich *e ascribe certain (ualitiesto the agents. Thought is re(uired *herever a statement is proved,
or, it may be, a general truth enunciated. #very Tragedy, therefore,
must have si1 parts, *hich parts determine its (uality" namely, Plot,
Character, iction, Thought, Spectacle, Song. T*o of the parts constitutethe medium of imitation, one the manner, and three the ob-ects of
imitation. And these complete the fist. These elements have been employed,
*e may say, by the poets to a man) in fact, every play contains Spectacularelements as *ell as Character, Plot, iction, Song, and Thought.
ut most important of all is the structure of the incidents. +or Tragedyis an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life
consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a (uality.
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%o* character determines mens (ualities, but it is by their actions
that they are happy or the reverse. ramatic action, therefore, isnot *ith a vie* to the representation of character: character comes
in as subsidiary to the actions. !ence the incidents and the plot
are the end of a tragedy) and the end is the chief thing of all. Again,
*ithout action there cannot be a tragedy) there may be *ithout character.The tragedies of most of our modern poets fail in the rendering of
character) and of poets in general this is often true. It is the same
in painting) and here lies the difference bet*een 9eu1is and Polygnotus.Polygnotus delineates character *ell) the style of 9eu1is is devoid
of ethical (uality. Again, if you string together a set of speeches
e1pressive of character, and *ell finished in point of diction andthought, you *ill not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so
*ell as *ith a play *hich, ho*ever deficient in these respects, yet
has a plot and artistically constructed incidents. esides *hich,
the most po*erful elements of emotional interest in Tragedy" Peripeteiaor eversal of the Situation, and ecognition scenes" are parts of
the plot. A further proof is, that novices in the art attain to finish
of diction and precision of portraiture before they can constructthe plot. It is the same *ith almost all the early poets.
The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it *ere, the soulof a tragedy) Character holds the second place. A similar fact is
seen in painting. The most beautiful colors, laid on confusedly, *ill
not give as much pleasure as the chal' outline of a portrait. ThusTragedy is the imitation of an action, and of the agents mainly *ith
a vie* to the action.
Third in order is Thought" that is, the faculty of saying *hat ispossible and pertinent in given circumstances. In the case of oratory,
this is the function of the political art and of the art of rhetoric:
and so indeed the older poets ma'e their characters spea' the languageof civic life) the poets of our time, the language of the rhetoricians.
Character is that *hich reveals moral purpose, sho*ing *hat 'ind of
things a man chooses or avoids. Speeches, therefore, *hich do notma'e this manifest, or in *hich the spea'er does not choose or avoid
anything *hatever, are not e1pressive of character. Thought, on the
other hand, is found *here something is proved to be or not to be,
or a general ma1im is enunciated.
+ourth among the elements enumerated comes iction) by *hich I mean,
as has been already said, the e1pression of the meaning in *ords)and its essence is the same both in verse and prose.
$f the remaining elements Song holds the chief place among the embellishments
The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its o*n, but,
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of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least *ith
the art of poetry. +or the po*er of Tragedy, *e may be sure, is felteven apart from representation and actors. esides, the production
of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist
than on that of the poet.
Part 6II
These principles being established, let us no* discuss the properstructure of the Plot, since this is the first and most important
thing in Tragedy.
%o*, according to our definition Tragedy is an imitation of an action
that is complete, and *hole, and of a certain magnitude) for there
may be a *hole that is *anting in magnitude. A *hole is that *hich
has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A beginning is that *hich doesnot itself follo* anything by causal necessity, but after *hich something
naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that *hich
itself naturally follo*s some other thing, either by necessity, oras a rule, but has nothing follo*ing it. A middle is that *hich follo*s
something as some other thing follo*s it. A *ell constructed plot,
therefore, must neither begin nor end at hapha5ard, but conform tothese principles.
Again, a beautiful ob-ect, *hether it be a living organism or any*hole composed of parts, must not only have an orderly arrangement
of parts, but must also be of a certain magnitude) for beauty depends
on magnitude and order. !ence a very small animal organism cannot
be beautiful) for the vie* of it is confused, the ob-ect being seenin an almost imperceptible moment of time. %or, again, can one of
vast si5e be beautiful) for as the eye cannot ta'e it all in at once,
the unity and sense of the *hole is lost for the spectator) as forinstance if there *ere one a thousand miles long. As, therefore, in
the case of animate bodies and organisms a certain magnitude is necessary,
and a magnitude *hich may be easily embraced in one vie*) so in theplot, a certain length is necessary, and a length *hich can be easily
embraced by the memory. The limit of length in relation to dramatic
competition and sensuous presentment is no part of artistic theory.
+or had it been the rule for a hundred tragedies to compete together,the performance *ould have been regulated by the *ater"cloc'" as indeed
*e are told *as formerly done. ut the limit as fi1ed by the nature
of the drama itself is this: the greater the length, the more beautiful*ill the piece be by reason of its si5e, provided that the *hole be
perspicuous. And to define the matter roughly, *e may say that the
proper magnitude is comprised *ithin such limits, that the se(uenceof events, according to the la* of probability or necessity, *ill
admit of a change from bad fortune to good, or from good fortune to
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there are even some tragedies in *hich there are only one or t*o *ell"'no*n
names, the rest being fictitious. In others, none are *ell 'no*n"as in Agathons Antheus, *here incidents and names ali'e are fictitious,
and yet they give none the less pleasure. 7e must not, therefore,
at all costs 'eep to the received legends, *hich are the usual sub-ects
of Tragedy. Indeed, it *ould be absurd to attempt it) for even sub-ectsthat are 'no*n are 'no*n only to a fe*, and yet give pleasure to all.
It clearly follo*s that the poet or ma'er should be the ma'er of
plots rather than of verses) since he is a poet because he imitates,and *hat he imitates are actions. And even if he chances to ta'e a
historical sub-ect, he is none the less a poet) for there is no reason
*hy some events that have actually happened should not conform tothe la* of the probable and possible, and in virtue of that (uality
in them he is their poet or ma'er.
$f all plots and actions the episodic are the *orst. I call a plotepisodic in *hich the episodes or acts succeed one another *ithout
probable or necessary se(uence. ad poets compose such pieces by their
o*n fault, good poets, to please the players) for, as they *rite sho*pieces for competition, they stretch the plot beyond its capacity,
and are often forced to brea' the natural continuity.
ut again, Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action,
but of events inspiring fear or pity. Such an effect is best produced
*hen the events come on us by surprise) and the effect is heightened*hen, at the same time, they follo*s as cause and effect. The tragic
*onder *ill then be greater than if they happened of themselves or
by accident) for even coincidences are most stri'ing *hen they have
an air of design. 7e may instance the statue of 3itys at Argos, *hichfell upon his murderer *hile he *as a spectator at a festival, and
'illed him. Such events seem not to be due to mere chance. Plots,
therefore, constructed on these principles are necessarily the best.
Part
Plots are either Simple or Comple1, for the actions in real life,
of *hich the plots are an imitation, obviously sho* a similar distinction.
An action *hich is one and continuous in the sense above defined,
I call Simple, *hen the change of fortune ta'es place *ithout eversalof the Situation and *ithout ecognition
A Comple1 action is one in *hich the change is accompanied by sucheversal, or by ecognition, or by both. These last should arise from
the internal structure of the plot, so that *hat follo*s should be
the necessary or probable result of the preceding action. It ma'esall the difference *hether any given event is a case of propter hoc
or post hoc.
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Part I
eversal of the Situation is a change by *hich the action veers round
to its opposite, sub-ect al*ays to our rule of probability or necessity.
Thus in the $edipus, the messenger comes to cheer $edipus and freehim from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing *ho he is,
he produces the opposite effect. Again in the 8ynceus, 8ynceus is
being led a*ay to his death, and anaus goes *ith him, meaning toslay him) but the outcome of the preceding incidents is that anaus
is 'illed and 8ynceus saved.
ecognition, as the name indicates, is a change from ignorance to
'no*ledge, producing love or hate bet*een the persons destined by
the poet for good or bad fortune. The best form of recognition is
coincident *ith a eversal of the Situation, as in the $edipus. Thereare indeed other forms. #ven inanimate things of the most trivial
'ind may in a sense be ob-ects of recognition. Again, *e may recogni5e
or discover *hether a person has done a thing or not. ut the recognition*hich is most intimately connected *ith the plot and action is, as
*e have said, the recognition of persons. This recognition, combined
*ith eversal, *ill produce either pity or fear) and actions producingthese effects are those *hich, by our definition, Tragedy represents.
3oreover, it is upon such situations that the issues of good or bad
fortune *ill depend. ecognition, then, being bet*een persons, itmay happen that one person only is recogni5ed by the other" *hen the
latter is already 'no*n" or it may be necessary that the recognition
should be on both sides. Thus Iphigenia is revealed to $restes by
the sending of the letter) but another act of recognition is re(uiredto ma'e $restes 'no*n to Iphigenia.
T*o parts, then, of the Plot" eversal of the Situation and ecognition"turn upon surprises. A third part is the Scene of Suffering. The Scene
of Suffering is a destructive or painful action, such as death on
the stage, bodily agony, *ounds, and the li'e.
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S#CTI$% .
#very *ord is either current, or strange, or metaphorical, or ornamental,or ne*ly"coined, or lengthened, or contracted, or altered.
y a current or proper *ord I mean one *hich is in general use amonga people) by a strange *ord, one *hich is in use in another country.
Plainly, therefore, the same *ord may be at once strange and current,
but not in relation to the same people. The *ord sigynon, lance,
is to the Cyprians a current term but to us a strange one.
3etaphor is the application of an alien name by transference either
from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species tospecies, or by analogy, that is, proportion. Thus from genus to species,
as: There lies my ship) for lying at anchor is a species of lying.
+rom species to genus, as: 6erily ten thousand noble deeds hath $dysseus*rought) for ten thousand is a species of large number, and is here
used for a large number generally. +rom species to species, as: 7ith
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blade of bron5e dre* a*ay the life, and Cleft the *ater *ith the
vessel of unyielding bron5e. !ere arusai, to dra* a*ay is usedfor tamein, to cleave, and tamein, again for arusai" each being
a species of ta'ing a*ay. Analogy or proportion is *hen the second
term is to the first as the fourth to the third. 7e may then use the
fourth for the second, or the second for the fourth. Sometimes too*e (ualify the metaphor by adding the term to *hich the proper *ord
is relative. Thus the cup is to ionysus as the shield to Ares. The
cup may, therefore, be called the shield of ionysus, and the shieldthe cup of Ares. $r, again, as old age is to life, so is evening
to day. #vening may therefore be called, the old age of the day,
and old age, the evening of life, or, in the phrase of #mpedocles,lifes setting sun. +or some of the terms of the proportion there
is at times no *ord in e1istence) still the metaphor may be used.
+or instance, to scatter seed is called so*ing: but the action of
the sun in scattering his rays is nameless. Still this process bearsto the sun the same relation as so*ing to the seed. !ence the e1pression
of the poet so*ing the god"created light. There is another *ay in
*hich this 'ind of metaphor may be employed. 7e may apply an alienterm, and then deny of that term one of its proper attributes) as
if *e *ere to call the shield, not the cup of Ares, but the *ineless
cup.
A ne*ly"coined *ord is one *hich has never been even in local use,
but is adopted by the poet himself. Some such *ords there appear tobe: as ernyges, sprouters, for 'erata, horns) and areter, supplicator,
for hiereus, priest.
A *ord is lengthened *hen its o*n vo*el is e1changed for a longerone, or *hen a syllable is inserted. A *ord is contracted *hen some
part of it is removed. Instances of lengthening are: poleos for poleos,
Peleiadeo for Peleidou) of contraction: 'ri, do, and ops, as in miaginetai amphoteron ops, the appearance of both is one.
An altered *ord is one in *hich part of the ordinary form is leftunchanged, and part is recast: as in de1iteron 'ata ma5on, on the
right breast, de1iteron is for de1ion.
%ouns in themselves are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. 3asculineare such as end in %, , S, or in some letter compounded *ith S" these
being t*o, PS and . +eminine, such as end in vo*els that are al*ays
long, namely # and $, and" of vo*els that admit of lengthening" thosein A. Thus the number of letters in *hich nouns masculine and feminine
end is the same) for PS and are e(uivalent to endings in S. %o noun
ends in a mute or a vo*el short by nature. Three only end in I" meli,honey) 'ommi, gum) peperi, pepper) five end in ;. %euter nouns
end in these t*o latter vo*els) also in % and S.
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Part II
The perfection of style is to be clear *ithout being mean. The clearest
style is that *hich uses only current or proper *ords) at the same
time it is mean" *itness the poetry of Cleophon and of Sthenelus.That diction, on the other hand, is lofty and raised above the commonplace
*hich employs unusual *ords. y unusual, I mean strange 0or rare2
*ords, metaphorical, lengthened" anything, in short, that differsfrom the normal idiom. ?et a style *holly composed of such *ords is
either a riddle or a -argon) a riddle, if it consists of metaphors)
a -argon, if it consists of strange 0or rare2 *ords. +or the essenceof a riddle is to e1press true facts under impossible combinations.
%o* this cannot be done by any arrangement of ordinary *ords, but
by the use of metaphor it can. Such is the riddle: A man I sa* *ho
on another man had glued the bron5e by aid of fire, and others ofthe same 'ind. A diction that is made up of strange 0or rare2 terms
is a -argon. A certain infusion, therefore, of these elements is necessary
to style) for the strange 0or rare2 *ord, the metaphorical, the ornamental,and the other 'inds above mentioned, *ill raise it above the commonplace
and mean, *hile the use of proper *ords *ill ma'e it perspicuous.
ut nothing contributes more to produce a cleanness of diction thatis remote from commonness than the lengthening, contraction, and alteration
of *ords. +or by deviating in e1ceptional cases from the normal idiom,
the language *ill gain distinction) *hile, at the same time, the partialconformity *ith usage *ill give perspicuity. The critics, therefore,
are in error *ho censure these licenses of speech, and hold the author
up to ridicule. Thus #ucleides, the elder, declared that it *ould
be an easy matter to be a poet if you might lengthen syllables at*ill. !e caricatured the practice in the very form of his diction,
as in the verse:
B#picharen eidon 3arathonade badi5onta,
BI sa* #pichares *al'ing to 3arathon, B
or,
Bou' an geramenos ton e'einou elleboron.
B%ot if you desire his hellebore. B
To employ such license at all obtrusively is, no doubt, grotes(ue)
but in any mode of poetic diction there must be moderation. #ven metaphors,
strange 0or rare2 *ords, or any similar forms of speech, *ould producethe li'e effect if used *ithout propriety and *ith the e1press purpose
of being ludicrous. !o* great a difference is made by the appropriate
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use of lengthening, may be seen in #pic poetry by the insertion of
ordinary forms in the verse. So, again, if *e ta'e a strange 0or rare2*ord, a metaphor, or any similar mode of e1pression, and replace it
by the current or proper term, the truth of our observation *ill be
manifest. +or e1ample, Aeschylus and #uripides each composed the same
iambic line. ut the alteration of a single *ord by #uripides, *hoemployed the rarer term instead of the ordinary one, ma'es one verse
appear beautiful and the other trivial. Aeschylus in his Philoctetes
says:
Bphagedaina dhe mou sar'as esthiei podos.
BThe tumor *hich is eating the flesh of my foot. B
#uripides substitutes thoinatai, feasts on, for esthiei, feeds
on. Again, in the line,
Bnun de meon oligos te 'ai outidanos 'ai aei'es,
B?et a small man, *orthless and unseemly, B
the difference *ill be felt if *e substitute the common *ords,
Bnun de meon mi'ros te 'ai astheni'os 'ai aeides.
B?et a little fello*, *ea' and ugly. B
$r, if for the line,
Bdiphron aei'elion 'atatheis oligen te trape5an,
BSetting an unseemly couch and a meager table, B
*e read,
Bdiphron mochtheron 'atatheis mi'ran te trape5an.
BSetting a *retched couch and a puny table. B
$r, for eiones booosin, the sea shores roar, eiones 'ra5ousin,
the sea shores screech.
Again, Ariphrades ridiculed the tragedians for using phrases *hich
no one *ould employ in ordinary speech: for e1ample, domaton apo,
from the house a*ay, instead of apo domaton, a*ay from the house)sethen, ego de nin, to thee, and I to him) Achilleos peri, Achilles
about, instead of peri Achilleos, about Achilles) and the li'e.
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It is precisely because such phrases are not part of the current idiom
that they give distinction to the style. This, ho*ever, he failedto see.
It is a great matter to observe propriety in these several modes of
e1pression, as also in compound *ords, strange 0or rare2 *ords, andso forth. ut the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.
This alone cannot be imparted by another) it is the mar' of genius,
for to ma'e good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
$f the various 'inds of *ords, the compound are best adapted to dithyrambs,
rare *ords to heroic poetry, metaphors to iambic. In heroic poetry,indeed, all these varieties are serviceable. ut in iambic verse,
*hich reproduces, as far as may be, familiar speech, the most appropriate
*ords are those *hich are found even in prose. These are the current
or proper, the metaphorical, the ornamental.
Concerning Tragedy and imitation by means of action this may suffice.
Part III
As to that poetic imitation *hich is narrative in form and employsa single meter, the plot manifestly ought, as in a tragedy, to be
constructed on dramatic principles. It should have for its sub-ect
a single action, *hole and complete, *ith a beginning, a middle, andan end. It *ill thus resemble a living organism in all its unity,
and produce the pleasure proper to it. It *ill differ in structure
from historical compositions, *hich of necessity present not a single
action, but a single period, and all that happened *ithin that periodto one person or to many, little connected together as the events
may be. +or as the sea"fight at Salamis and the battle *ith the Carthaginians
in Sicily too' place at the same time, but did not tend to any oneresult, so in the se(uence of events, one thing sometimes follo*s
another, and yet no single result is thereby produced. Such is the
practice, *e may say, of most poets. !ere again, then, as has beenalready observed, the transcendent e1cellence of !omer is manifest.
!e never attempts to ma'e the *hole *ar of Troy the sub-ect of his
poem, though that *ar had a beginning and an end. It *ould have been
too vast a theme, and not easily embraced in a single vie*. If, again,he had 'ept it *ithin moderate limits, it must have been over"complicated
by the variety of the incidents. As it is, he detaches a single portion,
and admits as episodes many events from the general story of the *ar"such as the Catalogue of the ships and others" thus diversifying the
poem. All other poets ta'e a single hero, a single period, or an action
single indeed, but *ith a multiplicity of parts. Thus did the authorof the Cypria and of the 8ittle Iliad. +or this reason the Iliad and
the $dyssey each furnish the sub-ect of one tragedy, or, at most,
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of t*o) *hile the Cypria supplies materials for many, and the 8ittle
Iliad for eight" the A*ard of the Arms, the Philoctetes, the %eoptolemus,the #urypylus, the 3endicant $dysseus, the 8aconian 7omen, the +all
of Ilium, the eparture of the +leet.
Part I6
Again, #pic poetry must have as many 'inds as Tragedy: it must be
simple, or comple1, or ethical,or pathetic. The parts also, *iththe e1ception of song and spectacle, are the same) for it re(uires
eversals of the Situation, ecognitions, and Scenes of Suffering.
3oreover, the thoughts and the diction must be artistic. In all theserespects !omer is our earliest and sufficient model. Indeed each of
his poems has a t*ofold character. The Iliad is at once simple and
pathetic, and the $dyssey comple1 0for ecognition scenes run through
it2, and at the same time ethical. 3oreover, in diction and thoughtthey are supreme.
#pic poetry differs from Tragedy in the scale on *hich it is constructed,and in its meter. As regards scale or length, *e have already laid
do*n an ade(uate limit: the beginning and the end must be capable
of being brought *ithin a single vie*. This condition *ill be satisfiedby poems on a smaller scale than the old epics, and ans*ering in length
to the group of tragedies presented at a single sitting.
#pic poetry has, ho*ever, a great" a special" capacity for enlarging
its dimensions, and *e can see the reason. In Tragedy *e cannot imitate
several lines of actions carried on at one and the same time) *e must
confine ourselves to the action on the stage and the part ta'en bythe players. ut in #pic poetry, o*ing to the narrative form, many
events simultaneously transacted can be presented) and these, if relevant
to the sub-ect, add mass and dignity to the poem. The #pic has herean advantage, and one that conduces to grandeur of effect, to diverting
the mind of the hearer, and relieving the story *ith varying episodes.
+or sameness of incident soon produces satiety, and ma'es tragediesfail on the stage.
As for the meter, the heroic measure has proved its fitness by he1ameter
test of e1perience. If a narrative poem in any other meter or in manymeters *ere no* composed, it *ould be found incongruous. +or of all
measures the heroic is the stateliest and the most massive) and hence
it most readily admits rare *ords and metaphors, *hich is anotherpoint in *hich the narrative form of imitation stands alone. $n the
other hand, the iambic and the trochaic tetrameter are stirring measures,
the latter being a'in to dancing, the former e1pressive of action.Still more absurd *ould it be to mi1 together different meters, as
*as done by Chaeremon. !ence no one has ever composed a poem on a
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great scale in any other than heroic verse. %ature herself, as *e
have said, teaches the choice of the proper measure.
!omer, admirable in all respects, has the special merit of being the
only poet *ho rightly appreciates the part he should ta'e himself.
The poet should spea' as little as possible in his o*n person, forit is not this that ma'es him an imitator. $ther poets appear themselves
upon the scene throughout, and imitate but little and rarely. !omer,
after a fe* prefatory *ords, at once brings in a man, or *oman, orother personage) none of them *anting in characteristic (ualities,
but each *ith a character of his o*n.
The element of the *onderful is re(uired in Tragedy. The irrational,
on *hich the *onderful depends for its chief effects, has *ider scope
in #pic poetry, because there the person acting is not seen. Thus,
the pursuit of !ector *ould be ludicrous if placed upon the stage"the 4ree's standing still and not -oining in the pursuit, and Achilles
*aving them bac'. ut in the #pic poem the absurdity passes unnoticed.
%o* the *onderful is pleasing, as may be inferred from the fact thatevery one tells a story *ith some addition of his 'no*ing that his
hearers li'e it. It is !omer *ho has chiefly taught other poets the
art of telling lies s'ilfully. The secret of it lies in a fallacy+or, assuming that if one thing is or becomes, a second is or becomes,
men imagine that, if the second is, the first li'e*ise is or becomes.
ut this is a false inference. !ence, *here the first thing is untrue,it is (uite unnecessary, provided the second be true, to add that
the first is or has become. +or the mind, 'no*ing the second to be
true, falsely infers the truth of the first. There is an e1ample of
this in the ath Scene of the $dyssey.
Accordingly, the poet should prefer probable impossibilities to improbable
possibilities. The tragic plot must not be composed of irrationalparts. #verything irrational should, if possible, be e1cluded) or,
at all events, it should lie outside the action of the play 0as, in
the $edipus, the heros ignorance as to the manner of 8aius death2)not *ithin the drama" as in the #lectra, the messengers account of
the Pythian games) or, as in the 3ysians, the man *ho has come from
Tegea to 3ysia and is still speechless. The plea that other*ise the
plot *ould have been ruined, is ridiculous) such a plot should notin the first instance be constructed. ut once the irrational has
been introduced and an air of li'elihood imparted to it, *e must accept
it in spite of the absurdity. Ta'e even the irrational incidents inthe $dyssey, *here $dysseus is left upon the shore of Ithaca. !o*
intolerable even these might have been *ould be apparent if an inferior
poet *ere to treat the sub-ect. As it is, the absurdity is veiledby the poetic charm *ith *hich the poet invests it.
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The diction should be elaborated in the pauses of the action, *here
there is no e1pression of character or thought. +or, conversely, characterand thought are merely obscured by a diction that is over"brilliant
Part 6
7ith respect to critical difficulties and their solutions, the number
and nature of the sources from *hich they may be dra*n may be thus
e1hibited.
The poet being an imitator, li'e a painter or any other artist, must
of necessity imitate one of three ob-ects" things as they *ere orare, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought
to be. The vehicle of e1pression is language" either current terms
or, it may be, rare *ords or metaphors. There are also many modifications
of language, *hich *e concede to the poets. Add to this, that thestandard of correctness is not the same in poetry and politics, any
more than in poetry and any other art. 7ithin the art of poetry itself
there are t*o 'inds of faults" those *hich touch its essence, andthose *hich are accidental. If a poet has chosen to imitate something,
=but has imitated it incorrectly> through *ant of capacity, the error
is inherent in the poetry. ut if the failure is due to a *rong choice"if he has represented a horse as thro*ing out both his off legs at
once, or introduced technical inaccuracies in medicine, for e1ample,
or in any other art" the error is not essential to the poetry. Theseare the points of vie* from *hich *e should consider and ans*er the
ob-ections raised by the critics.
+irst as to matters *hich concern the poets o*n art. If he describesthe impossible, he is guilty of an error) but the error may be -ustified,
if the end of the art be thereby attained 0the end being that already
mentioned2" if, that is, the effect of this or any other part of thepoem is thus rendered more stri'ing. A case in point is the pursuit
of !ector. if, ho*ever, the end might have been as *ell, or better,
attained *ithout violating the special rules of the poetic art, theerror is not -ustified: for every 'ind of error should, if possible,
be avoided.
Again, does the error touch the essentials of the poetic art, or someaccident of it@ +or e1ample, not to 'no* that a hind has no horns
is a less serious matter than to paint it inartistically.
+urther, if it be ob-ected that the description is not true to fact,
the poet may perhaps reply, ut the ob-ects are as they ought to
be) -ust as Sophocles said that he dre* men as they ought to be)#uripides, as they are. In this *ay the ob-ection may be met. If,
ho*ever, the representation be of neither 'ind, the poet may ans*er,
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or *or'ers in bron5e. This, ho*ever, may also be ta'en as a metaphor.
Again, *hen a *ord seems to involve some inconsistency of meaning,
*e should consider ho* many senses it may bear in the particular passage.
+or e1ample: there *as stayed the spear of bron5e" *e should as'
in ho* many *ays *e may ta'e being chec'ed there. The true modeof interpretation is the precise opposite of *hat 4laucon mentions.
Critics, he says, -ump at certain groundless conclusions) they pass
adverse -udgement and then proceed to reason on it) and, assumingthat the poet has said *hatever they happen to thin', find fault if
a thing is inconsistent *ith their o*n fancy.
The (uestion about Icarius has been treated in this fashion. The critics
imagine he *as a 8acedaemonian. They thin' it strange, therefore,
that Telemachus should not have met him *hen he *ent to 8acedaemon.
ut the Cephallenian story may perhaps be the true one. They allegethat $dysseus too' a *ife from among themselves, and that her father
*as Icadius, not Icarius. It is merely a mista'e, then, that gives
plausibility to the ob-ection.
In general, the impossible must be -ustified by reference to artistic
re(uirements, or to the higher reality, or to received opinion. 7ithrespect to the re(uirements of art, a probable impossibility is to
be preferred to a thing improbable and yet possible. Again, it may
be impossible that there should be men such as 9eu1is painted. ?es,*e say, but the impossible is the higher thing) for the ideal type
must surpass the realty. To -ustify the irrational, *e appeal to
*hat is commonly said to be. In addition to *hich, *e urge that the
irrational sometimes does not violate reason) -ust as it is probablethat a thing may happen contrary to probability.
Things that sound contradictory should be e1amined by the same rulesas in dialectical refutation" *hether the same thing is meant, in
the same relation, and in the same sense. 7e should therefore solve
the (uestion by reference to *hat the poet says himself, or to *hatis tacitly assumed by a person of intelligence.
The element of the irrational, and, similarly, depravity of character,
are -ustly censured *hen there is no inner necessity for introducingthem. Such is the irrational element in the introduction of Aegeus
by #uripides and the badness of 3enelaus in the $restes.
Thus, there are five sources from *hich critical ob-ections are dra*n.
Things are censured either as impossible, or irrational, or morally
hurtful, or contradictory, or contrary to artistic correctness. Theans*ers should be sought under the t*elve heads above mentioned.
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Part 6I
The (uestion may be raised *hether the #pic or Tragic mode of imitation
is the higher. If the more refined art is the higher, and the more
refined in every case is that *hich appeals to the better sort of
audience, the art *hich imitates anything and everything is manifestlymost unrefined. The audience is supposed to be too dull to comprehend
unless something of their o*n is thro*n by the performers, *ho therefore
indulge in restless movements. ad flute"players t*ist and t*irl,if they have to represent the (uoit"thro*, or hustle the coryphaeus
*hen they perform the Scylla. Tragedy, it is said, has this same defect.
7e may compare the opinion that the older actors entertained of theirsuccessors. 3ynniscus used to call Callippides ape on account of
the e1travagance of his action, and the same vie* *as held of Pindarus.
Tragic art, then, as a *hole, stands to #pic in the same relation
as the younger to the elder actors. So *e are told that #pic poetryis addressed to a cultivated audience, *ho do not need gesture) Tragedy,
to an inferior public. eing then unrefined, it is evidently the lo*er
of the t*o.
%o*, in the first place, this censure attaches not to the poetic but
to the histrionic art) for gesticulation may be e(ually overdone inepic recitation, as by Sosistratus, or in lyrical competition, as
by 3nasitheus the $puntian. %e1t, all action is not to be condemned"
any more than all dancing" but only that of bad performers. Such *asthe fault found in Callippides, as also in others of our o*n day,
*ho are censured for representing degraded *omen. Again, Tragedy li'e
#pic poetry produces its effect even *ithout action) it reveals its
po*er by mere reading. If, then, in all other respects it is superior,this fault, *e say, is not inherent in it.
And superior it is, because it has an the epic elements" it may evenuse the epic meter" *ith the music and spectacular effects as important
accessories) and these produce the most vivid of pleasures. +urther,
it has vividness of impression in reading as *ell as in representation.3oreover, the art attains its end *ithin narro*er limits for the concentrated
effect is more pleasurable than one *hich is spread over a long time
and so diluted. 7hat, for e1ample, *ould be the effect of the $edipus
of Sophocles, if it *ere cast into a form as long as the Iliad@ $ncemore, the #pic imitation has less unity) as is sho*n by this, that
any #pic poem *ill furnish sub-ects for several tragedies. Thus if
the story adopted by the poet has a strict unity, it must either beconcisely told and appear truncated) or, if it conforms to the #pic
canon of length, it must seem *ea' and *atery. =Such length implies
some loss of unity,> if, I mean, the poem is constructed out of severalactions, li'e the Iliad and the $dyssey, *hich have many such parts,
each *ith a certain magnitude of its o*n. ?et these poems are as perfect
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as possible in structure) each is, in the highest degree attainable,
an imitation of a single action.
If, then, tragedy is superior to epic poetry in all these respects,
and, moreover, fulfills its specific function better as an art" for
each art ought to produce, not any chance pleasure, but the pleasureproper to it, as already stated" it plainly follo*s that tragedy is
the higher art, as attaining its end more perfectly.
Thus much may suffice concerning Tragic and #pic poetry in general)
their several 'inds and parts, *ith the number of each and their differences)
the causes that ma'e a poem good or bad) the ob-ections of the criticsand the ans*ers to these ob-ections....
T!# #%
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