Poetic Essays

  • Aristotle’s Poetics

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Courageous and admirable with noble qualities defines a heroine. In Aristotle’s Poetics he describes a tragic hero as a character who is larger than life and through fate and a flaw they destroy themselves. Additionally, Aristotle states excessive pride is the hubris of a tragic hero. The hero is very self-involved; they are blind to their surroundings and commit a tragic action. A tragedy describes a story that evokes sadness and awe, something larger than life. Furthermore, a tragedy of a play

  • The Poetics Summary

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Poetics- Aristotle Tragedy- the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear; where with to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. I.      Discussion of Tragedy A.      Six parts to a tragedy: 1.      fable/plot- the combination of incidents, or things done in the story

  • Realism In Aristotle's Poetics

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristotle’s Poetics consists in collection of notes trying to describe different artistic categories related to words (poetry). Even if the chapters about comedy were never founded, propositions articulated in these notes, after taken as canonical, have had a strong impact in differentiating aesthetic genres, establishing their boundaries. The way Aristotle approached arts that rely on verbal language has also several implications for the conception of the role of literature in the world and the

  • Apostrophe & Personification: Poetic Comparison

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem, "Ode to the West Wind" and Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror" both employ the poetic tools of apostrophe, the address to something that is intangible, and personification, the application of human characteristics to something inanimate. However, they form a paradox in the usage of these tools through the imagery they create. Both poets have breathed life into inanimate objects, however death and aging are the prominent themes within both of these works. In "Ode to the West

  • Oedipus the King and Aristotle's Poetics

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself among many other things. Oedipus is often portrayed as the perfect example of what a tragedy should be in terms of Aristotle’s Poetics. Reason being that Oedipus seems to include correctly all of the concepts that Aristotle describes as inherent to dramatic tragedy. These elements include: the importance of plot, reversal and recognition, unity of time, the cathartic purging and

  • The Underworld, Logos, and the Poetic Imagination

    3080 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Underworld, Logos, and the Poetic Imagination I In the Odyssey of Homer, Odysseus travels to the underworld and meets the soul of Achilles, who bitterly comments on existence after death: O shining Odysseus, never try to console me for dying. I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted him and not much to live on, than be a king over all the perished dead.[1] The ancient Greek interpretation of death, as expressed by Homer, portrays the Underworld

  • Augustan Poetic Tradition

    4392 Words  | 9 Pages

    Augustan Poetic Tradition "I do not in fact see how poetry can survive as a category of human consciousness if it does not put poetic considerations first—expressive considerations, that is, based upon its own genetic laws which spring into operation at the moment of lyric conception." —Seamus Heaney, "The Indefatigable Hoof-taps" (1988) Seamus Heaney, the 1995 Nobel laureate, is one of the most widely read and celebrated poets now writing in English. He is also one of the most traditional

  • Aristotle’s Poetics through Oedipus Rex

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    good that they feel dolorous for the person suffering. Greek playwrights used it entrance the emotions of the audience. Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is a great example of a Greek tragedy. Around this time of Greek theatre, Aristotle wrote the Poetics, which analyzed tragic drama and specifically Oedipus Rex. Aristotle used Oedipus Rex to help explain the main components to a Greek tragedy. These main components are illustrated through Oedipus Rex, which include the importance of plot, tragic flaw

  • The Relevance of Aristotle’s Poetics to the World Today

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Relevance of Aristotle’s Poetics to the World Today The Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje, in his last novel titled In the Skin of a Lion, wrote that "the first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human" (Ondaatje 223).  Ondaatje noted that what makes a novel a novel is order or, as that order is sometimes referred to today, plot and structure.  It is that structure that we, as both the audience and the artist, rely

  • Poetic Verse and Rhyme in The Merchant of Venice

    1822 Words  | 4 Pages

    the court to Lorenzo and Bassanio. Lorenzo's use of poetic alliteration while talking to Jessica enriches the setting and supports the theme of harmony in the conclusion of the play: "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! / Here will we sit and let the sounds of music / Creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night / Become the touches of sweet harmony. / Sit Jessica." William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, contains poetic verse and rhyme that creates vivid and logical imagery

  • Aristotle's Poetics: Complexity and Pleasure in Tragedy

    2113 Words  | 5 Pages

    Aristotle's Poetics: Complexity and Pleasure in Tragedy Aristotle 384-322 BC First, the instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals being that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the pleasure felt in things imitated. We have evidence of this in the facts of experience. Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced

  • Hollowness in Emily Dickinson’s Poetic Discourse

    3878 Words  | 8 Pages

    Hollowness in Emily Dickinson’s Poetic Discourse Much has been said about Emily Dickinson’s mystifying poetry and private life, especially during the years 1860-63. Allegedly it was during these years that the poetess, at the most prolific phase of her career, withdrew from society, began to wear her “characteristic” white dress and suffered a series of psychotic episodes. Dickinson tended to “theatricalize” herself by speaking through a host of personae in her poems and by “fictionalizing”

  • Ibsen's Ghosts Vs. Aristotle's Poetics

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    within the characters demeanor and actions. The tragic hero in Ibsen’s Ghosts, Mrs. Alving, fits into these criterion, yet Ibsen also strays from Aristotle’s conventions. “The character will be good if the purpose is good.” (pg. 27), according to Poetics. Ibsen attempts to create a good character in Mrs. Alving. Although she makes many mistakes and her judgments lead to the ultimate tragedy her intentions are good. “Yes, I was swayed by duty and consideration for others; that was why I lied to my

  • A Connectionist Model of Poetic Meter

    3163 Words  | 7 Pages

    Connectionist Model of Poetic Meter Abstract. Traditional analyses of meter are hampered by their inability to image the interaction of various elements which affect the stress patterns of a line of poetry or provide a system of notation fully amenable to computational analysis. To solve these problems, the connectionist models of James McClelland and David Rumelhart in Explorations in Parallel Distributed Processing (1988) are applied to the analysis of English poetic meter. The model graphically

  • Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    2249 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner An examination of the characters that Coleridge presents in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan" and the situations in which they find themselves reveals interesting aspects of Coleridge's own character that are both similar to and different from the characters named in the titles of these poems. In particular, an examination of these characters with an eye toward Coleridge's conception of poetic inspiration and success

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Poetic Style

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Poetic Style Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry has been the subject of much criticism. Her elusive style prompted many critics to question Barrett's method of writing. In fact, some critics, like Alethea Hayter, go so far as to propose that an "honest critique of her work must admit that she often wrote very bad poetry indeed" (15). Accusations against Barrett's work were often targeted at her tendency for anonymity, her excessive development of thoughts, unsuccessful

  • Influence of Aristotle’s Poetics on William Wordsworth’s Poetry and William Shakespeare’s Plays

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Influence of Aristotle on William Wordsworth’s Poetry and William Shakespeare’s Plays Aristotle’s Poetics is not one of his major works, although it has exercised a great deal of influence upon subsequent literary studies and criticism. In this work Aristotle outlines and discusses many basic elements that an author should adhere to in order to write a great tragedies and/or poetry. Two important topics that Aristotle addresses and believes to be crucial to the art work is the mimesis, or

  • Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself Walt Whitman is commonly known as the bard of America, a poet who wrote about the common man of the country as had never been done before. He was able to do so because he was a common man, as can be seen in lines such as "This is the city and I am one of the citizens." Within his poetry he often used certain tools of the typical epic tale, borrowed from such tales as The Iliad, and The Odyssey. All of these tools can be seen within

  • Poetic Form in Hughes' Theme for English B

    2054 Words  | 5 Pages

    between Caucasians and African Americans in the social construct of the educational system during this chaotic time period. In Hughes' poem, "Theme for English B," he discusses racism through the stage of a university in America, using narrative and poetic devices to express the feelings and emotions involved in the struggle for equality. The poem's structure divides into three main stanzas with a one-line form at the end. Written in free verse, the poem is unencumbered from restrictions regarding

  • An Analysis of the Epic Poem, Beowulf - Poetic Devices in Beowulf

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poetic Devices in Beowulf There are a small variety of poetic devices employed in the composition of the poem Beowulf, and they are repeated numerous times. The Old English poetry of Beowulf is distinguished primarily by its heavy use of  allliteration, or the repetition of the initial sounds of words. In the original manuscript version of the poem, alliteration is employed in almost every line (or two half-lines); in modern translations of the poem this is not so. In lines 4 and 5 of