Customer Reviews

Aristotle's Poetics (Dramabook,)

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I learned about Literary criticism from this Aristotle's Poetics more than any other books I read on literature. The experience of discovering our ignorance, and the cause of suffering is not only essential to tragedy, but is essential to our existence as human beings. This book helped me to understand that a good literature captures this moment of knowing, that is marked by certain growth, liberation, and insight to the meaning of our lives. After sufficiently studied Aristotle, I would also recommend comparing this work to the structure of Gospel of Mark, and Martin Hengel's "Literary, Theological, and Historical Problems in the Gospel of Mark."

The ancient observer's insights have stood the test of time. Some elements of human nature remain consistent regardless of the century or technology. Aristotle thought classification was important. In this work he sets forth a taxonomy for poetics. One of the more controversial statements he makes in this book is "poetry is both more philosophical and more serious than history." He doesn't leave it at that, being the philosopher he is he goes on to explain himsself. He adds, "poetry speaks more of what is universally the case, whereas history speaks of particular events." This book will give you a comparison that spans cultures and centuries.

I read these works for a graduate seminar on Aristotle.
Poetry appeals to human passions and emotions. Powerful beautiful language and metaphor really appeal to emotion. This idea really disturbed Plato, who takes on Homer in the Republic. Plato thought that early Greek poetry portrays a dark world; humans are checked by negative limits like death. Tragedy has in it a character of high status brought down through no fault of his own. Plato says this is unjust. Republic is about ethical life and justice. It starts with the premises that might makes right and then moves onto the idea much like modern religions that justice comes in the afterlife. Plato hates the idea that in tragedy bad things can happen to good people. He wanted to ban tragedy because he found it demoralizing.

Aristotle's Poetics is a defense against Plato's appeal to ban tragedy. Tragedy was very popular in Greek world so Aristotle asks can it be wrong to ban it? Yes, it is wrong thus he decides to study it. Plato says Poetry is not a technē because the poets are divinely inspired. Aristotle disagrees Poetics is a handbook for playwrights. Mimēsis= "representation or imitation." Plato uses it in speaking of painting, thus art is imitation. Another meaning is to mimic, like actors mimicking another person. Plato and Aristotle use it to mean psychological identification like how we get absorbed in a movie as if the action were real, eliciting emotions from us. We suspend reality for a while. Aristotle says this is natural in humans; we do this as children, we mimic. If imitation is important for humans then tragic poetry is worthwhile for Aristotle to study.

Definition of tragedy- "Through pity and fear it achieves purification from such feelings. This is a famous controversial line. Katharsis= "pity and fear" thus the purpose of tragedy is to purge katharsis. Katharsis can also mean purification or clean. There is a debate if it means clarification, through which we can come to understand katharsis. Aristotle thinks tragedy teaches us something about life. Tragedy is an elaboration on Aristotle's idea that good or virtuous people sometimes get unlucky and in the end, they get screwed. Tragedy shows this so we can learn to get by when life screws us. The whole point of tragedy is action over character. Action is the full story of the poem like the Iliad. Character is only part of the action.
Aristotle distinguishes between poetry and history. Poetry is concerned with universals, history is concerned with particulars.

I recommend Aristotle's works to anyone interested in obtaining a classical education, and those interested in philosophy. Aristotle is one of the most important philosophers and the standard that all others must be judged by.

I teach this edition of the Poetics. The introduction is excellent. It makes the rest of the text understandable and useful to a writer.

This book (or perhaps just a portion of Aristotle's lecture notes) remains the acorn of an oak of subjects, from art criticism to playwriting to poetry. This is a clear, accurate translation (it helped me pass a test in Ancient Greek; and people who really know assure me). The text is no-frills and the introduction is brief but informative. This is probably not for scholars who will want to quibble over the meaning of 'phusis' and 'techne' but for the general reader who will be infinitely enriched by a philospical masterwork. Unlike other such masterworks, this one is short and readable!

Basically Aristotle's poetics is his outline for how literature should look and what purpose each section, metaphor, sentence, word, and even letter should have. He sums up his ideas about this rather quickly unlike his modern day counterparts. The book is very easy to read, but some sections may need a little bit or re-reading. I read the entire book in about two hours; probably even less and that also accounts for highlighting and annotating it for my own uses and also rereading some parts that I did not understand the first time around.
This book is an invaluable source for anyone who studies literature of any kind. I would suggest this book to any English Literature students, just so that they would know all about the roots. This book is also a great source for writing term papers and whatever else like that.
However, its one failing is that the book cost nine dollars. If you can pick up a copy from the school library or from a teacher that would be recommended, but you probably should not buy it in its new form. (There are cheaper used books, you might want to pick up one of those)

I loved this text! It is amazing and lyrical, an incomparable read! It now lives next to my bed, so that whenever I get the need I can read an extract (even at 2am) without having to search through the library for it.

Well, the only reason anyone would need this book is if they were trying to understand the concepts of literature or if they were planning to write. AH, and if they are, this book is a CRUCIAL STUDY. As an English Major, I encountered WAY TOO MANY critiques that are based on absurd marxist theories. Remember, literature reflects a SPECIFIC TIME, PLACE, AND ERA! I am a devout Anglican and I DO NOT shun Hawthorne's work because much of it is Anti Anglican. I understand that Hawthorne was reflecting an Anti Anglican Period in America. It is absurd to judge literature harshly because it does not fall into contemporary political slots whatever they may be at the moment. This book by Aristotle is a concise, focused, and appropriate look at the concept of literature. He emphasizes the need of close conflicts as opposed to hero versus enemy. He also makes it clear that writing must have recognition and/or reversal at some point. Also, he states the need for surprise events. Another thing he does is he helps us see that some events may be important, but it is better to mention them instead of displaying them. He also stresses the need for characters to play on our fear or pity. While this is more of a reference book, it belongs in the library of any student of literature.

Just a layman here. I want so bad to absorb the important ideas of Aristotle, but this book is complex and my attention wonders after a while.

outstanding, best book for writing, used by many gretA SCREENWRITES INCLUDING gARY rOS WHO HA RECOMMENDED IT TO ME, IF MY CAREER TSKES OFF I OWE IT TO THIS BOOK