Page 17 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 1: Aristotle: The Poetics—Introduction to the Author and the Text

• it is not pragmatic because it is inferior to the practical arts and therefore has no educational Notes
value.
These were the reasons for Plato's objections to poetry.
1.4.3 What is his Theory of Mimesis?
In his theory of mimesis, Plato says that all art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. He
believed that 'idea' is ultimate reality. Art imitates idea and so it is imitation of reality. He gives an
example of a carpenter and a chair. The idea of 'chair' first came in the mind of carpenter. He gave
physical shape to his idea and created a chair. The painter imitated the chair of the carpenter in his
picture of chair. Thus, painter's chair is twice removed from reality. Hence, he believed that art is
twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to philosophy as philosophy deals with
idea. Whereas poetry deals with illusion - things which are twice removed form reality. So to
Plato, philosophy is better than poetry. This view of mimesis is pretty deflationary, for it implies
that mimetic art—drama, fiction, representational painting—does not itself have an important role
to play in increasing our understanding of human beings and the human world. This implication
would not be rejected by every lover—or indeed every creator—of imaginative literature. Ironically
it was Plato's most famous student, Aristotle, who was the first theorist to defend literature and
poetry in his writing Poetics against Plato's objection and his theory of mimesis.

1.5 Aristotle’s Views on Poetry
Plato confused the study of 'aesthetics' with the study of 'morals'. Aristotle removed that confusion
and created the study of aesthetics.
Plato was a great poet, a mystic and a philosopher. 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 common sense. He is known for
his critical treatise: (i) The Poetics and (ii) The Rhetoric, dealing with art of poetry and art of
speaking, resp.
For centuries during Roman age in Europe and after renaissance, Aristotle was honoured as a law-
giver and legislator. Even today his critical theories remain largely relevant, and for this he
certainly deserves our admiration and esteem. But he was never a law-giver in literature and is no
longer held as such in our times. The Poetics is not merely commentary or judgement on the poetic
art. Its conclusion is firmly rooted in the Greek literature and is actually illustrated form it. He was
a codifier; he derived and discussed the principles of literature as manifest in the plays and poetry
existing in his own day. His main concern appears to be tragedy, which in his day was considered
to be the most developed form of poetry. Another part of poetics deals with comedy, but it is
unfortunately lost. In his observations on the nature and function of poetry, he has replied the
charges of Plato against poetry, where in he partly agrees and partly disagrees with his teacher.
1.5.1 How did Aristotle Reply to Plato's Objection?
Aristotle replied to the charges made by his Guru Plato against Poetry in particular and art in
general. He replied to them one by one in defense of poetry.
Plato says that art being the imitation of the actual is removed from truth. It only gives the likeness
of a thing in concrete, and the likeness is always less than real. But Plato fails to understand that
art also give something more which is absent in the actual. The artist does not simply reflect the
real in the manner of a mirror. Art is not slavish imitation of reality. Literature is not the
photographic reproduction of life in all its totality. It is the representation of selected events and
characters necessary in a coherent action for the realization of artist's purpose. He even exalts,
idealizes and imaginatively recreates a world which has its own meaning and beauty. These
elements, present in art, are absent in the raw and rough real. R.A.Scott-James rightly observes:
"But though he (Poet) creates something less than that reality, he also creates something more. He
puts an idea into it. He put his perception into it. He gives us his intuition of certain distinctive

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