Aristotle - The Poetics

Aristotle - The Poetics - Epic

Aristotle - The Poetics

Epic

The epic is earlier in origin than either tragedy or comedy. It grew out of the old hymns to the gods and songs sung in praise of famous men. In its nature it resembles tragedy closely but in its form it is different. Taking its nature first, it is also an imitation of a serious action, ‘whole and complete, with a beginning, a middle and an end. ‘Whoever, therefore’, says Aristotle, ‘knows what is good or bad tragedy, knows also about epic poetry’. The structure of its plot follows the same pattern. It has a complication, a turning point and a denouement and it is either complex or simple that is with or without peripeteia and anagnorisis. It has the same unity of action and produces the same kind of pleasure, viz that arising from catharsis, since the epic also has tragic happenings. Its characters are also of the same: plot, character, thought and diction, the remaining two, song and spectacle, belonging to tragedy only.

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