Poetics in Antiquity: Key Concepts and Thinkers

Posted on Mar 30, 2025 in Philology

Poetics: Creation and Imitation

Poiesis is akin to creation. Poets exist because they are creators. The idea persists that God created the world through words, leading to the belief that words possess creative power.

The Power of Words in Creation

Some believe words hold magical power over reality, citing examples like:

  • Mantra: A series of syllables with religious meaning, believed to cause effects in reality if pronounced correctly.
  • Wen: A rhythmic pattern found both in poetry and potentially in the universe.

Ancient Perspectives on Poetry

Homer: Divine Inspiration

According to Homer, a poet is distinct from other people because they alone can communicate with the Muses. The Muses transmit:

  • Plot: They tell the poet what must be said.
  • View: They possess a supernatural view of reality. Poets, therefore, have total knowledge, like gods.
  • Beauty: They provide guidance on the poem’s creation.

Pythagoras: Emotion and Harmony

According to Pythagoras, poetry could transmit emotions. He is known for his correlation between numbers, proportions, and music.

Hesiod: Illusion of Reality

According to Hesiod, poetry is a lie that seems real.

Gorgias: Emotional Impact

According to Gorgias, poetry provokes emotions in readers.

Plato: Poetry as Imitation’s Shadow

According to Plato, the sensible world is not real. What we perceive is designed; it is only a copy of what is found in the World of Ideas. For him, poetry was a copy of the copy. Poetry and art are copies of the sensible world, which is itself a copy of the Intelligible World. For Plato, poetry was the result of inspiration and associated with myths; in some poems, we find gods performing immoral actions. Plato banned poets from his ideal republic.

Aristotle: Imitation and Literary Forms

According to Aristotle, the original resides in the sensible world, and poetry is not a mere copy of a copy, but an imitation (mimesis) of the sensible world with real value. The concept of imitation was central to his poetics. Literature is the imitation of our external reality but also the result of the poet’s craft.

Literary Genres

Each art has different means to imitate reality:

  • Painting: Colors, shapes
  • Music: Rhythm, harmony
  • Poetry: Words

Tragedies also incorporate rhythm and harmony. The narrative mode differentiates the epic from drama (theater). Imitating reality through language yields the epic genre; adding rhythm, harmony, and musicality results in tragedy or comedy. The object of imitation in tragedies is often idealized, since the protagonist is typically noble.

Key Aristotelian Concepts
  1. Verisimilitude: Likeness to truth. A good work must seem truthful by being plausible according to the reality it establishes.
  2. Fable (Mythos): The imitation of actions; the plot. In tragedy, fables (plots) are often inspired by mythology. Aristotle suggested three unities (later formalized by others):
    • Unity of Action: Representing only one main action.
    • Unity of Time: Confining the representation of the conflict to a specific duration (often roughly a day) to maintain intensity.
    • Unity of Place: Representing the action in only one place.
  3. Catharsis: The purification or purgation of emotions (like pity and fear) experienced by the audience.
  4. Peripeteia: A reversal of fortune, typically a change from good luck to bad luck.
  5. Anagnorisis: The process when a character discovers something they did not previously know; a moment of recognition.
  6. Pathos: Suffering or a calamity within the plot. Painful acts should ideally not be exhibited directly (e.g., happen offstage).

Horace: Purpose in Art

According to Horace, there are two primary orientations in art:

  • A didactic and rational approach: Emphasizing Ars (Art/Skill), Res (Subject Matter), and Docere (To Teach).
  • An entertaining and formal approach: Emphasizing Ingenio (Genius/Talent), Verba (Words/Style), and Delectare (To Delight).

Relating these to causes:

  • Efficient Cause: Ingenio (genius/talent) in creation.
  • Final Cause: To teach (docere) or to entertain (delectare).
  • Material Cause: Res (subject matter) / Verba (words/style).

For Horace, the best piece is the one that teaches while entertaining.