Does Aristotle Poetics Still Hold Today?

Barstow, Marjorie. "Oedipus Rex as the Ideal Tragic Hero of Aristotle." The Classical

Weekly, vol. 6, no. 1, 2-4, 1912. Print.

Barstow observes one of Aristotle's fundamental points in her essay, which is that "Aristotle finds the end of human endeavor to be happiness…[which proceeds] from a steady and comprehensive intellectual vision which views life steadily and distinguishes in every action the result to be gained" (2). Poetry, like Oedipus Rex, helps illustrate Aristotle's point that human happiness is dependent upon one's grasp of reality.

Dodds, E.R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Greece and Rome, vol. 13, 37-

Print.

Dodds asks, "In what sense, if in any, does the Oedipus Rex attempt to justify the ways of God to man?" (37). The fact that Sophocles' work tackles the question is important evidence that drama is worthy of serious study and capable of teaching profound truths. Thus, Dodds' essay validates Aristotle's argument for the inclusion of poetry in society.

Halliwell, Stephen. Aristotle's Poetics. IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Print.

This source is valuable because Halliwell expands upon idea that the Poetics is a response to the central idea of Plato's Republic -- which is the erection of a good society. The Poetics does more than simply assert that poetry is a "legitimate pleasure" (2). It argues that poetry is essential for any society to be good. Poetry, Aristotle argues further, is mimetic: that is, it is first and foremost a representation of reality -- not just a lyrical statement of facts or ideas. Poetry must above all reflect reality: and it is by that reflection that the audience learns.

Halliwell, Stephen. "Pleasure, Understanding, and Emotion in Aristotle's Poetics."

Essays on Aristotle's Poetcs. Ed. By Amelie Rorty. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, pp. 241-260. Print.

This source helps support Halliwell's Aristotle's Poetics. In it, Halliwell argues for the importance of Aristotle's Poetics (and drama in general) less from the standpoint of catharsis and more from the fact that human nature enjoys, learns, and feels through exposure to poetry. Halliwell's main argument is that catharsis remains (despite varying contentious beliefs) an abstract and undefined principle, and that there is a much simpler reason, which Aristotle gives, that helps explain the need for story in human society.

Janko, Richard. "From Catharsis to the Aristotelian Mean." Essays on Aristotle's

Poetcs. Ed. By Amelie Rorty. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, pp. 341-358. Print.

This source is helpful because it shows how Aristotle's Poetics is a response to Plato's criticism of poetry as an attempt to arouse "a whole gamut of emotions, including pity, laughter, lust and indignation" (349). Aristotle argues for the mean…"the middle way between the extremes of boorishness and buffoonery" (351). This is obtainable through both tragic and comedic catharsis argues Janko.

Seamon, Roger. "The Price of the Plot in Aristotle's Poetics." The Journal of Aesthetics

and Art Criticism, vol. 64, no. 2 (Spring, 2006), pp. 251-258. Print.

This essay criticizes Aristotle's argument that plot is the most essential element of poetry. It is useful for providing a contrary view to the Poetics, which asserts that poetry represents reality primarily by representing an action with a beginning, middle, and end. Seamon would propose that lyrical style, character, etc. are just as essential for poetry -- but this is not the contention of the Poetics.

The Importance of the Poetics Today: A Proposal

Aristotle's Poetics is still useful today for exactly the same reason as it was useful in ancient Greece. As a response to Plato's Republic, a treatise on the ideal state, the Poetics sets forth the important role that drama (poetry) plays in society. Contrary to Plato's argument that mimetic poetry is inherently dangerous because it arouses a range of passions, Aristotle's Poetics asserts that poetry must be mimetic, because human nature responds to representations of actions (Janko 349). This paper proposes to show how Aristotle's Poetics still holds true today, in spite of the modern way human nature is perceived.

The human need for poetry, (set forth by Aristotle in the Poetics) as Halliwell states, appears to be regarded by many Aristotelian scholars "as marginal or digressive" -- but Halliwell suggests that it is an important part of the overall explanation for the importance of drama: "In Poetics 4…Aristotle identifies two features of human nature which explain the existence of poetry" (Halliwell "Pleasure, Understanding, and Emotion" 241). First, there is a natural instinct in human nature towards mimesis; second, there is a definite pleasure derived from mimetic objects.

Halliwell contends that these two points show how fundamental it is for human nature to crave stories (which are representations of actions -- which is what the Poetics asserts is the most important element of poetry: plot). By exposing itself to poetry and drama, a society undergoes a cathartic experience -- an experience that affects and challenges the emotions as well as the intellect. It is a kind of purifying process (Halliwell Aristotle's Poetics 2) that ultimately helps inspire society in a positive way.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics may also be of assistance in this paper, because it is here that Aristotle lays out what it means to be a good man. As Aristotle says, in moral virtue there are "defects" and "excesses," and as moral virtue relates to passions and actions, too little passion or too great passion are both improper. The mean is desirable -- and the cultivation of equanimity of the passions (evenness of temper, etc.) is the object of man (Aristotle 44). "Virtue is a mean state…[and] is a habit, accompanied with deliberate preference, in the relative mean, defined by reason, and as the prudent man would define it" (Aristotle 45). Like his view of drama in the Poetics, Aristotle advocates a prudent approach to all things, not the least of which is poetry. Rather than condemn poetry as a whole because of tendencies by poorer poets to arouse the passions, Aristotle praises poetry for the good it can achieve when it prudently effects catharsis, whether comedically or tragically. Moderation is the key.