This lecture discusses the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle' work, the Poetics, focusing on Aristotle's definition of tragedy, which runs:

"Tragedy, then, is mimesis of an action which is elevated, complete, and of magnitude; in language embellished by distinct forms in its sections; employing the mode of enactment, not nar­rative; and through pity and fear accomplishing the catharsis a of such emotions. I use "embellished'' for lan­guage with rhythm and melody, and "distinct forms" for the fact that some parts are conveyed through metrical speech alone, others again through song."

He also identifies six parts or elements of tragedy, provides definitions of them, and sets out their order of importance:

"Plot, then, is the first principle and, as it were, soul of tragedy, while character is secondary. (A similar principle also holds in painting: if one were to cover a surface ran­domly with the finest colours, one would provide less pleasure than by an outline of a picture.) Tragedy is

mimesis of action, and it is chiefly for the sake of the

action that it represents the agents. Third in importance is thought: that is, the capacity to say what is pertinent and apt, which in formal speeches is the task of politics and rhetoric. The earliest poets made people speak polit­ically, present day poets make them speak rhetorically. Character is .that which reveals moral choice-that is, when otherwise unclear, what kinds of thing an agent chooses or rejects ( which is why speeches in which there is nothing at all the speaker chooses or rejects contain no character); while thought covers the parts in which they demonstrate that something is or is not so, or declare a general view. Fourth is the diction of the spoken sec­tions: as stated earlier, I define diction as expression through choice of words-something which has the same capacity in both verse and prose. Of the remainder, lyric poetry is the greatest embellishment, while spectacle is emotionally potent but falls quite outside the art and is not integral to poetry: tragedy' capacity is independent of performance and actors, and, besides, the costumier's art has more scope than the poet's for rendering effects of spectacle."

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