Poets of Aristotle
by Sadananda
What
Aristotle (364-322 BC), the ideal disciple of Plato, said about poets and
poetry at that time, no one else could say.
According
to Aristotle, there are different types of poetry. The structure and division
of a good poem is in its material part. He describes poetry as a means of
imitation that seeks to represent or replicate life through character, emotion
or action. So poetry can be spread in different ways and can be an epic,
tragedy, comedy, lyrical, or even a folk dance with a stanza.
According
to Aristotle, tragedy is born of trying to make someone look better and better
than real life. Comedy on the other hand reveals a lower type. Epic poetry, on
the other hand, is about people of noble character like tragedy, which is
descriptive, but does not end like tragedy. Tragedy carries six elements: plot,
character, words, thoughts, exhibitions and songs. Plot is the spirit of
tragedy. A plot must have a beginning, a middle and an end; Its significance must
be universal.
There
are four things a poet should keep in mind when creating a character. First of
all, the protagonist must be a good man, and his speech must have a purposeful
morality. Second, the hero's actions will be accurate and heroic. Third, the
position of the hero will be in the truth of life. Fourth, the hero must be
impartial.
The
poet will write about his position, or about his fictional subjects, or about
what should happen. It is recommended to have metaphorical or contemporary
words in poetic writing. When the poet imitates the mistakes, the errors of the
poem come out and thus destroys the essence of the poem. However, a partial
error cannot destroy the whole work.
Despite
all this talk about poets, Aristotle banished poets from his imaginary ideal
state. According to him, Poets may never really be responsible for running the
state.
This
is also fact that till now above than 50% of us think on poets as like as Aristotle.
But I don’t think so.
