Lauer's Notes on Aristotle's Poetics, Horace's Epistula ad Pisones (Ars poetica), and Longinus's On the Sublime:
In English

Aristotle's Poetics (384-322 BC):

Chapter 3: Imitative artists represent men in action (i.e., doing things, from 'dran' = to do) better than they are in tragedy, worse in comedy.

Chapter 4.  Poetry is produced because 1.  The instinct to imitate is inherent in all men and 2. Instinctively we enjoy works of imitation (we acquire information this way).  Panegyrics and hymns are serious (tragic) poetry while invectives and lampoons are trivial (comic).

Chapter 5. Comedy uses hexameters and represents the worst of men, the ridiculous, the ugly, the bad; epic is narrative and keeps one meter and observes no limit in its time of action; tragedy keeps within a single revolution of the sun.

Chapter 6. Tragedy defined.  It is a representation of an action worth serious attention, complete in itself (with a beginning, middle, and end), of some amplitude, in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play, dramatized (acted) not narrated, by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions.

  • Plot.  The representation of the action is the plot of tragedy (the ordered arrangement of the incidents.  Plot is a representation not of men but of action and life, happiness and unhappiness.  They must be of a reasonable length so that they may be held in the memory.  The longer the story, the more beautiful, provided it is clear.  It should be long enough to allow a necessary change from misery to happiness or from happiness to misery.  The plot contains only what is necessary, not what can be removed without changing the plot in any way.  Aristotle frowns on episodic plots in which the sequence of events is neither probable nor necessary.  Plots are either simple of complex:  In a simple plot, there is no reversal or discovery; in a complex one the change is accompanied by a discovery or a reversal or both.  There is a big difference between what happens as a result of something else (sjuzet = logical sequence of events) and what merely happens after it (fabula = basic storyline or temporal sequence of events).
  • Character.  Character enables us to define the nature of the participants.  It makes men what they are, but only their actions make them happy or unhappy.  There could be no tragedy without action.
  • Thought comes out in what they say when the characters are expressing an opinion.  It is related to the arts of politics and rhetoric.
  • Music is pleasant.
  • Spectacle or stage-effect is an attraction but is more the province of the property-man than the poet.
Chapter 9.Poetic and Historical Truths:  The poet, unlike the historian, describes not what happened, but what might happen.  Hence, poetry is more philosophical and worthy of serious attention than history.  History deals with particular facts; poetry with universal truths.  Tragedy uses names of real people because what is possible is credible.  Comic poets, on the other hand, invent names and do not write about real people.  However, it is not necessary to keep entirely to the traditional stories that form the subjects of tragedy.  One has poetic freedom to change the facts. 

Chapter 11. Reversal (peripetia), discovery (anagnorisis), calamity (commos):  A reversal is a change from one state of affairs to its opposite, one that conforms to necessity or probability.  A discovery is a change from ignorance to knowledge.  The most effective discovery is accompanied by reversals (Oedipus's messenger).  This carries with it pity and fear and leads to a happy or unhappy ending.  A calamity is an action of a destructive or painful nature such as death, excessive suffering, wounding, etc.

Chapter 12.  Parts of tragedy: prologue, episode, exode, choral song (parode & stasimon), commos.  Songs of the actors and commoi (wherein actors and chorus take part), however, are characteristic of only some tragedies.

Chapter 13.  Tragic action:  The sources of tragic effects: The structure of tragedy at its best should be complex, not simple and should awake fear and pity.  Good men should not pass from prosperity to misery; neither should evil men go from misery to prosperity.  Both are disgusting and do not awaken pity or fear.  Pity is awakened because of undeserved misfortune; fear by that of one just like oneself. The perfect tragic character is not conspicuous for virtue and justice and his fall into misery is not due to vice or depravity but rather because of some error.  He also enjoys prosperity and a high reputation.  The change of character should go from prosperity to misery.  The best tragedies are written about some families (Oedipus, Orestes, Thyestes).

Chapter 14.  Fear & pity may also be excited by spectacle.  Hearing about events, however, is better than seeing them, for the visual requires the cooperation of the producer while the hearing of events relies on the poet's words alone. 
Incidents regarded as fearful & pitiable are those when suffering involves those who are near and dear to one (relatives in family):

  • For incidents to be effective, characters may perform tragic deeds consciously and in full knowledge of the facts (Medea in Euripides kills her children).
  • Or they may do it without realizing the horror of the deed until later (Oedipus).
  • Or someone in ignorance is about to commit a tragic deed but discovers the truth just before committing it and does not do it.  This last method is the best [I suppose because we already experienced pity and fear.  There is no need for a commos then.  That would be an overkill]. 
 Chapter 15.  Characters should be good.  Their portrayal should be appropriate (decorum).  They should be lifelike (verisimilitude).  They should be consistent.  If he is inconsistent, he should be consistently inconsistent.  In characterization one should always keep in mind what will be either probable or necessary.  Also the unraveling of the plot should arise from the circumstances of the plot itself and not be brought about ex machina.  Tragedy is a representation of people who are better than the average.

Chapter 16.  The different types of discovery: 

  • The discovery by means of visible signs or tokens is the least artistic. 
  • Discoveries manufactured by the poet are also inartistic. 
  • A third kind of discovery is due to memory, when the sight of something leads to the required understanding. 
  • A fourth kind of discovery is brought about by reasoning.  "Men are mortal; I am dying; I am therefore a man." 
  • The best discovery is brought about by the incidents themselves, as in Oedipus, since they dispense with artificial aids and tokens; the second best are those that depend on reasoning.
Chapter 17.  0
Chapter 18.  Every tragedy has a complication (incidents outside or inside the plot) and a dénoument (what happens after the reversal or change).  There are four kinds of tragedy:
  • Complex tragedy: depends on reversal and discovery.
  • Tragedy of suffering.
  • Tragedy of character.
  • Spectacular tragedy.
The poet should try to include all these elements and should avoid an epic structure (a multiplicity of stories).  The chorus should be regarded as one of the actors and be part of the whole. 

Chapters 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. 

Chapter 24.  One should not mix several meters in epic.  However, nature teaches us to choose the right meter for our purposes (Lope).  The marvelous should be represented in tragedy (admiratio). 

Chapter 26. Tragedy is better than epic because what is more compact gives more pleasure than what is extended over a long period. 

Horace.  Epistula ad Pisones (Ars poetica or De arte poetica) 
[ca. 12 or 8 BC] {a verse epistle}:

P. 83: Decorum.  Consistency of character.  also pp. 84-85.  Horace emphasizes the visual but would not want to see ugly scenes on stage.  5 acts.  No deus ex machina unless absolutely necessary.  No more than 3 characters on stage speaking at the same time.  The chorus should be an actor who should side with the good characters and give them friendly advice (he is thus a helper).  He should commend moderation and should respect confidences (p. 86).  Tragedy comes from tragos (he-goat) and poets competed in tragic verse for the prize of a goat.  88: One should imitate Greek models (theory of imitatio).  Thespis invented tragedy.  Aeschylus came next (88).  90: The experienced poet, as an imitative artist should look to human life and character for his models and from them derive a language that is true to life.  Romans had innate wit and the ability to turn phrases for honor and renown.  Romans do things for profit.  Hence, "Poets aim at giving either profit or delight, or at combining the giving of pleasure with some useful precepts for life."  [utility of poetry].  91: The elders want to be edified, the juniors want to be entertained.  Hence to be successful one must blend 1. profit with 2. delight, and give the reader pleasure and instruction, for this is the book that not only makes money for the booksellers, but is carried to distant lands and ensures a lasting fame for the author. 
P. 91: A poem is like a painting.
P. 92:  Whenever you write something give it to someone to criticize and hide it for nine years. 
P. 93:  On the civic duties of poets:  Homer's poetry inspired men to acts of war and valor.  The way to right living was also taught this way.  A fine poem requires a natural ability and art. 

Longinus.  On the Sublime (1st century AD) 
[distinction or excellence of expression].  it is an innate gift but it must be cultivated by imitation of classical writers. 

     Five sources of the sublime: 
1. Grandeur of thought (the most important); this takes its source from nobility of soul or character. 
2. Vehement or inspired passion. 
3.  Effective use of stylistic and rhetorical figures; 
4.  Noble diction and phrasing (skillful use of metaphors, etc.); 
5.  Dignified or elevated composition (an insistence on the most effective arrangement of words or organic unity).
 

 
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