Plato (427–347 B.C.E.) is notorious for attacking art in Book 10 of his
Republic. According to Plato's Theory of Forms,
objects in this world are imitations or approximations of ideal Forms that are
the true reality. A chair in this world is just an imitation or instantiation of
the Form of Chair. That being the case, art is twice removed from reality, as it
is just an imitation of an imitation: a painting of a chair is an imitation of a
chair which is in turn an imitation of the Form of Chair. Further, Plato argues
that art serves to excite the emotions, which can detract from the balanced
reasoning that is essential to virtue.
Aristotle's Poetics can be read as a response to Plato's attack on art.
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) was a student at Plato's Academy from the time
he was seventeen until Plato's death some twenty years later. He spent the next
twelve years engaging in scientific research and serving as tutor to the then
teenaged Alexander the Great. He returned to Athens in 335 B.C.E., and founded
his own school on the steps of the Lyceum. He remained there until 323 B.C.E.,
when he was forced to leave as a result of his associations with Alexander. He
died a year later of natural causes. The Lyceum remained open until 525 C.E.,
when it was closed by the emperor Justinian.
None of the works of Aristotle that we have today were actually published by
Aristotle. He wrote a number of treatises and dialogues, but these have all been
lost. What survives are collections of notes, possibly from lecture courses
Aristotle gave at the Lyceum, which are often unclear or incomplete. The
Poetics, in true form, was likely a much longer work than the one we have
today. Aristotle supposedly wrote a second book on comedy, which is now lost.
The main focus of the Poetics is on Greek tragedy. Though there were
thousands of tragedies and scores of playwrights, we only have thirty-three
extant tragedies, written by the three great tragedians:
Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.E.), Sophocles
(496–405 B.C.E.), and Euripides (485–406 B.C.E.).
Tragedies were performed in Athens twice annually at festivals in honor of
Dionysus, the god of wine and excess. Though the tragedies likely evolved out of
religious ceremonies celebrating the cycle of the seasons, they became
increasingly secular. The dramatic festivals were immensely important events,
and the winning playwrights achieved great fame.
The Poetics also discusses epic poetry, using the example of Homer
(eighth century B.C.E.) almost exclusively. Homer wrote two great epics, the
Iliad and the Odyssey, which deal
with the fall of Troy and Odysseus's subsequent wanderings respectively. These
epics are the source of a great number of Greek tragedies and are considered
among the earliest great works of world literature.
Though the Poetics is not one of Aristotle's major works, it has
exercised a great deal of influence on subsequent literary theory, particularly
in the Renaissance. Later interpreters unfortunately turned many of Aristotle's
suggestions into strict laws, restricting the flexibility of drama in ways that
Aristotle would not have anticipated. The tragedies of Racine and Corneille in
particular are formed according to these demands. Even though such great
playwrights as Shakespeare often went against these laws, they were held as the
model for writing tragedy well into the nineteenth century.
