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    Plato and Aristotle

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    K.SUBRAMANI
    This document provides an overview of Plato and Aristotle's theories of literature and criticism. It explains that Plato was the first critic to examine poetry as part of his moral philosophy, though he rejected poetry on moral grounds by confusing aesthetics with morality. In contrast, Aristotle examined poetry as a form of art and evaluated its elements based on aesthetic beauty. He is known for his critical treatises The Poetics and The Rhetoric. The document also notes that Aristotle observed and analyzed the literary forms of his time and codified rules for tragedy, comedy, and epic in his work, though much was lost when the library at Athens burned down.

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    Plato and Aristotle

    Uploaded by

    K.SUBRAMANI
    217 views3 pages
    This document provides an overview of Plato and Aristotle's theories of literature and criticism. It explains that Plato was the first critic to examine poetry as part of his moral philosophy, though he rejected poetry on moral grounds by confusing aesthetics with morality. In contrast, Aristotle examined poetry as a form of art and evaluated its elements based on aesthetic beauty. He is known for his critical treatises The Poetics and The Rhetoric. The document also notes that Aristotle observed and analyzed the literary forms of his time and codified rules for tragedy, comedy, and epic in his work, though much was lost when the library at Athens burned down.

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    Plato and Aristotle

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    This document provides an overview of Plato and Aristotle's theories of literature and criticism. It explains that Plato was the first critic to examine poetry as part of his moral philosophy, though he rejected poetry on moral grounds by confusing aesthetics with morality. In contrast, Aristotle examined poetry as a form of art and evaluated its elements based on aesthetic beauty. He is known for his critical treatises The Poetics and The Rhetoric. The document also notes that Aristotle observed and analyzed the literary forms of his time and codified rules for tragedy, comedy, and epic in his work, though much was lost when the library at Athens burned down.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    217 views3 pages

    Plato and Aristotle

    Uploaded by

    K.SUBRAMANI
    This document provides an overview of Plato and Aristotle's theories of literature and criticism. It explains that Plato was the first critic to examine poetry as part of his moral philosophy, though he rejected poetry on moral grounds by confusing aesthetics with morality. In contrast, Aristotle examined poetry as a form of art and evaluated its elements based on aesthetic beauty. He is known for his critical treatises The Poetics and The Rhetoric. The document also notes that Aristotle observed and analyzed the literary forms of his time and codified rules for tragedy, comedy, and epic in his work, though much was lost when the library at Athens burned down.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Unit1: Plato and Aristotle

    Objectives

    After reading this unit you will be able to

    Understand what Literature is and what Criticism is

    Understand the relevance of Classical Criticism

    Platos theory of Mimesis and his objection to Poetry

    Aristotles Defence of Poetry and his Concept of Tragedy

    Aristotles definition and explanation of Tragedy

    Six Formative Elements in Tragedy

    Aristotles explanation of Plot, Character and Tragic Hero

    The Function of Tragedy

    1.1

    All that is literature seeks to communicate power, all that is not

    Introduction

    literature seeks to communicate knowledge says Thomas De Quincy.


    We shall study the literature of power and its evaluation. Literature of
    power is also referred as creative writing while evaluation of creative
    writing is referred as criticism.

    The critical enquiry had begun almost in the 4th century B.C. in
    Greece. Plato, the great disciple of Socrates, was the first critic who
    examined poetry as a part of his moral philosophy. Plato was basically
    a moral philosopher and not a literary critic. Platos critical

    observations on poetry lie scattered in The Ion, The Symposium, The


    Republicand The Laws. In The Ion, he advocated poetry as a genuine
    piece of imaginative literature, but in The Republic which is a treatise
    on his concepts of Ideal State, he rejected poetry on moral and
    philosophical grounds.

    Plato was a great moral philosopher and his primary concentration was
    to induce moral values in the society and to seek the ultimate Truth.
    So when he examines poetry his tool is rather moral and not aesthetic.
    He confused aesthetics with morality and ultimately concluded poetry
    as immoral and imitative in nature. On the other hand, Aristotle the
    most distinguished disciple of Plato was a critic, scholar, logician and
    practical philosopher. The master was an inspired genius every way
    greater than the disciple except in logic, analysis and commonsense.
    He is known for his critical treatises: (i) The Poetics and (ii) The
    Rhetoric, dealing with art of poetry and art of speaking, respectively.
    Aristotle examines poetry as a form of art and evaluates its constituent
    elements on the basis of its aesthetic beauty. For the centuries,
    Aristotle had been considered as a law-giver in the field of criticism in
    Europe. Aristotle actually observed the then available forms of
    literature and analyzed them and codified the rules. In his work he
    has

    described the characteristics of Tragedy, Comedy and Epic in

    elaborative manner. But unfortunately, the library of Athens was burnt


    down in which the most part of his treatise was lost whatever is
    available at present is considered as The Poetics. Fortunately we find a

    detailed note on Tragedy, which throws light also on the fundamental


    elements of good literature.

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