Analysis of The Poetics - Chapter 9

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The poet and the historian differ from each other. The historian writes what has happened while the poet writes what may happen. The poet is universal in his approach while the historian is particular. Thus the poet is more philosophical than the historian as he moulds boring facts into things of interest. The poet while writing a play has to give name to his characters. In the new comedies, the poets have given their characters any name of their choice. In the tragedies, the poets use the real names of the people who are associated with that particular event. However there are tragedies in which only one or two real names have been used and others are named according to the wish of the poet. In fact in Agathon’s Antheus all the characters and the places have been given a fictitious name but still the tragedy was very successful and liked by people.
A poet must be a writer of fables. A poet must write something which is possible or probable. Even if a poet is imitating an event of the past, he is still writing something which took place and so it was possible because if it was not so it would not have taken place. Hence he would be termed as a poet in this context.
Of the various kinds of fables, the worst according to Aristotle are the episodic. The episodic fables are the ones in which there are different episodes which do not have any genuine connection with each other. The episodic fables are written by bad poets and also by good poets for the sake of dramatic competitions.
The tragedies are at its best when it’s events appear unexpectedly in a casual manner. Such unexpected situations arise great emotions in the minds of the audience. In tragedies, the events resulting from accidents are good or bad depending upon the type of situations. When the accidental scenes are properly planned by the dramatists, they are very pleasing. For instance, the statue of Mitys at Argos killed the man who killed Mitys by falling on the man in a festival. Such incidents do not appear mere accidents but they are brought forth by proper design and planning. 

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