Poetry is
In what sense and how far is the genius master of his madness? For it goes without saying that to a certain degree he is master of it, since otherwise he would be actually a madman. For suchobservations, however, ingenuity in a high degree is requisite, and love; for to make observation upon a superior mind is very difficult. --Kierkegaard, Fear and TremblingMadness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. Poetry is not inspiration. Poetry is neither reasonable, irrational, or a result of some sort of mania. Poetry is language through which the writer affects and as a result the reader is affected. Within this, one finds a cause and effect relationship. Plato, in Ion, refers to the poet as, "a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of this senses, and reason is longer in him". In contrast, Aristotle contends that, "poetry implies either a happy gift of nature or a strain of madness. In one case a man can take the mould of any character; in the other, he is lifted out of his proper self" (Poetics, XVII. 2). Longinus adds that, "Truly beautiful words are the very light of thought" (On The Sublime, XXX. 63), and "litera
is carried away as in some frenzy of diction into violent and intemperate metaphors and allegorical bombast'. If poetry is madness, then let it be so. We either choose to accept or deny these circumstances. He does not correct his impressions or compare them with those of others. Plato explains that 'poetry feeds and waters the passions instead of starving them' (The Republic, Book X). Consequently, the listeners are possessed by a sense of splendour, dignity, and sublimity, when the poetry is of that nature. By proposing that poetry is "more philosophical and a higher thing than history", Aristotle introduces the idea that poetry could potentially be more provocative for the mind than Plato had previously thought. Is it reasonable to deprive oneself of satisfaction? Aristotle holds that it is not desirable to kill or to starve the emotional part of the soul, and that the controlled gratification of the feelings serves to maintain the balance of our nature (Poetics, IX).
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