AP Literature and Composition

“It’s a moody Monday!”

November 16, 2009

Mr. Houghteling

Agenda:

1. Quickwrite—your definitions of comedy and tragedy.

2. Scoring/collecting the Sula essays.

3. “Description of the Morning” review.

4. Aristotle’s Poetics - Key definitions and excerpts from the section we read and from the text as a whole - Take notes.

Today is a busy day.

Please take out the following documents:-Your Sula essay.-The AP score guide (provided last week).-Your copy of “Description of the Morning.” -Aristotle’s Poetics.

Quickwrite

• What is your definition of a comedy?

• What is your definition of a tragedy?

Analyze your responses:

Do comedies and tragedies share any characteristics? If so, what are they? How do the two differ?

Scoring the Sula essay.

• While you create your own definitions, you should score your own essay using the AP guide.

• We have read the score guide carefully; put your numeric score on the back of your essay.

Aristotle’s Poetics:

Together with Plato (his teacher) and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy.

Much of our understanding of rhetoric and literature is based on Aristotle’s treatise, Poetics.

Homework Assignment - Due Tuesday: 1. Read and annotate (mark!) the

provided excerpt from Aristotle’s Poetics.

2. On a separate sheet of paper, identify Aristotle’s definitions of the following terms: poetry, comedy, tragedy, plot, character, and thought.

Aristotle’s Poetics:

All art is imitation.

Art differs in what and how it imitates.

Aristotle’s Poetics is a direct reflection of his teacher’s -- Plato’s -- treatise, The Republic.

Plato’s The Republic:

According to Plato's Theory of Forms, objects in this world are imitations or approximations of ideal Forms that are the true reality. A chair in this world is just an imitation of the Form of Chair.

Aristotle’s definition of comedy: • “Comedy is…an imitation of

characters of a lower type, not, however, in the fully sense of the word bad… It consists in some defect or ugliness which is not painful or destructive.”

• Comedy imitates the imperfect and grotesque; however, it does not cause harm or hurt.

Aristotle’s Poetics - Tragedy• Aristotle praises Oedipus the King as

the model of a perfect tragedy.

• Using Sophocles’ play, Aristotle defined tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude.”

• He also stated that tragedy triggers two emotions: pity and fear.

History of Tragedy• Tragedy stems from earlier drama that

was religious in nature.

• The original religious plays usually dealt with issues regarding fate in human life and the relationship between gods and mortals.

• Greek tragedies maintain these qualities.

Tragic Hero

• A tragic hero is a dignified or noble character who is central to the drama.

Tragic Flaw

• The tragic hero possesses a defect, or TRAGIC FLAW, that brings about or contributes to his or her own downfall.

• Examples: poor judgment, pride, greed, narcissism, etc.

Tragic Flaw continued…• The flaw may also be something that is

otherwise valued in society, but the tragic hero possess too much/an extreme version of the flaw.

• For example: Ambition in MacbethAmbition is often an admirable quality, but in Shakespeare’s play, the tragic hero, Macbeth, possesses too much, which ultimately leads to his death.

Dramatic Irony

• Often, the hero is unaware of some information that the audience knows.

• This may include knowing that the character possesses too much of a particular trait.

Catharsis• Definition: a purifying or

figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially as an effect of tragic drama.

• Arguably, one of the reasons why we need art: to cope with those things that would be otherwise too difficult to process.

Catharsis• We enjoy watching tragedies

because we can empathize with the emotions the tragic hero undergoes throughout the drama.

• We feel what the hero feels, yet we do not have to endure the trial that the hero endures.

Other definitions from Poetics: Plot = action; “the soul of a tragedy”

Character = ethos; distinct qualities that are ascribed to “an agent”

Thought = something that is proven to be or not to be or a generally accepted truth. The argument or main idea.

Diction = meaning of words (word choice)

Spectacle = the setting

Homework:

Review Aristotle’s Poetics.

Study his definitions of the provided key terms.

Be prepared for tomorrow’s quiz.

Bring your textbook to class tomorrow.