(4th century) He defines poetry as the mimetic (imitative) use of language, rhythm, & harmony, separately or in combination. Poetry is mimetic b/c it creates a representation of objects/events in the world, unlike philosophy, which presents ideas. Humans are naturally drawn to imitation, so poetry has a strong pull on us. 

c. 523-456 BCE

Earliest exixsting Greek tradgedies (that we know of)

Wrote Agamemnon (458 BCE)

Wrote first play about current events (The Persians) which is the earliest play we have intact

Introduced 2nd actor

c. 496-406 BCE

Wrote Oedipus Rex , also known as Oedipus the King (ca. 430-425 BCE) and Antigone (ca. 442 BCE)

Added third actor, made chorus bigger

Most decorated of the Greek tragic playwrights (24 Dionysus festival wins)

Focused more on emphasizing/developing individual characters 

c. 480-406 BCE

Medea (431 BCE)

Youngest of Greek tragic playwrights

Known for:

melodrama & irony- "created some of the most extreme situations/events ever depicted on the Greek stage"

characters who aren't nobility- more relatable/realistic 

writing about women

c. 448-380 BCE

Lysistrata (411 BCE)

Only comedic Greek playwright (that we know of)

→"Old Comedy"

His life bridges Classic Greek theater to fall of Athens

Greek word for imitation; not abstract but representation

6 aspects of tradegedy

In order of importance:

1. plot (fable)

2. character

3. thought

4. diction (speech)

5. music (melody/song)

6. spectacle

The reversal from one state of affairs to its opposite. Some element in the plot effects a reversal, so that the hero who thought he was in good shape suddenly finds that all is lost, or vice versa.

From Aritotle Poetics

Ex. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

recognition/discovery (anagnorisis)

A change from ignorance to knowledge. This discovery will bring love & happiness to characters who learn of good fortune, hatred & misery to those who discover unhappy truths. Connected to the plot when paried w/ reversal; together help arouse pity & fear, will also help draw the play to conclusion.

Recognition on both plot & thematic level

Recognizing larger moral pattern

Suffering- culmination of the drama

From Aristotle Poetics 

"Suffering; which we may define as an action of a destructive or painful nature, such as murderers on the stage, tortures, woundings and the like."

Ex. Sophocles Oeidupus Rex ending (poking eyes out)

tragic flaw or error (hamartia)

The inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tradgedy, who is in other respects a superior being favoured by fortune. An element of cosmic collusion among the hero’s flaw, chance, necessity, and other external forces is essential to bring about the tragic catastrophe. "error of judgment" (i.e. Oedipus)

Purging of emotion; relief

Pity for main character, fear for yourself

Physical purgation and/or Emotional (though vicarious experience

Poetics (6) - "[Tradgedy] in a dramatic, not in narrative form; w/ incidents arousing pity & fear wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions"

Trading one line back and forth in between long poems or speeches (single epigrammatic lines of verse)

often used as a means to show characters in contention; to heighten emotional intensity of a scene. 

Ex.  Agamemnon

A stage mechanism consisting of a low platform that rolled on wheels or revolved on an axis and could be pushed onstage to reveal an interior or some offstage scene such as a tableau. 

A building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes but eventually became the background before which the drama was enacted. First used c. 465 BCE

The flat area at the bottom where the actors are

Circular in early Greek theatre construction, the space between the audience and the stage; primary chorus performance space in Greek theater

Comedy that accompanies trilogies

Ancient dramatic festival in which tradgedy, comedy, & satyric drama originated; held in Athens in March in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine. Attended by all Athenian citizens (maybe not women). Tragic poets wrote, produced, and probably acted in 3 tragedies on a theme. Judges awarded a prize to the best poet. 

A group of actors (men)  who described/commented upon main action of play w/ song, dance, & recitation. The distinction btwn passivity of chorus & the activity of actors is central to Greek tragedies. The chorus expresses the fears, hopes, and judgment of the polity, the average citizens.

festive dances/songs to honor Dionysis

origins of Greek chorus

Literal origin: A crane in the amphitheater

Modern figurative:  a person or thing (usually a god) that appears or is introduced into a situation suddenly and unexpectedly and provides an artificial or contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty; bad writing

5th century BCE