Ancient Literary Criticism and Poetics

The theory and criticism of literature in antiquity, centered on Aristotle's Poetics and extending through Hellenistic, Roman, and late antique critics.

Definition

The study of ancient theories and practices of literary criticism and poetics, including their major texts, concepts, and critics.

Scope

This topic covers ancient thinking about literature: the analysis of poetry as mimesis in Aristotle's Poetics, the theory of genres and of tragedy, Hellenistic and Roman criticism, Horace's Ars Poetica, the treatise On the Sublime, and the critical practice of grammarians and commentators. It treats how the ancients defined, evaluated, and interpreted literary works.

Core questions

• How did the ancients define and evaluate poetry?
• What is the theory of mimesis and how does Aristotle apply it to tragedy?
• How did literary criticism develop after Aristotle?
• How did ancient critics read and interpret canonical poets?

Key theories

Mimesis and tragedy

Aristotle's theory of poetry as imitation and his analysis of tragic plot, character, and catharsis, interpreted by Stephen Halliwell as the foundation of literary aesthetics.

The sublime

The conception, developed in the treatise On the Sublime, of literary greatness as the power of elevated language to transport the reader, an enduring category of criticism.

History

Reflection on poetry began among the early Greeks and the sophists and was systematized by Plato and Aristotle, whose Poetics is the central ancient text of literary theory. Hellenistic scholars, Roman critics such as Horace, and the author of On the Sublime extended the tradition, which was transmitted to later Europe and continues to inform literary criticism.

Debates

The meaning of catharsis

Scholars have long debated what Aristotle meant by the catharsis produced by tragedy — whether a purgation, purification, or intellectual clarification of the emotions.

Key figures

• Stephen Halliwell
• Donald Russell
• Michael Winterbottom
• Andrew Ford

Seminal works

• halliwell1986
• russell1981
• russellwinterbottom1972

Frequently asked questions

What is mimesis?

Mimesis, or imitation, is the central concept of ancient poetics, by which poetry is understood as a representation of human action and life, given its most influential analysis in Aristotle's Poetics.

What is the treatise On the Sublime?

On the Sublime, attributed to Longinus, is an ancient critical work analyzing the sources of greatness and elevation in literature, influential on later European criticism.