1. Literary Criticism (Classical, Western)
Course Instructor: Raj Thakur

2. CLASSSICAL LITERARY CRITICISM ‘a critic is an ideal reader’
Our English word “criticism” comes from the ancient Greek noun krites, meaning to “judge.”
Theoria (Theory): contemplation and speculation in Greek thought
Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text
its structure
its context: social, economic, historical
what is written
how the text manipulates the reader
"The life which is unexamined is not worth living.“ (Socrates)
The classical period is usually said to end in 323 BC with the death of Alexander the Great. After this is the “Hellenistic” period, witnessing the diffusion of Greek culture

3. Background:
Classical Literary Criticism existed as far back as 4th century B.C.
Plato and Aristotle from Greece and Horace and Longinus from Rome- core of classical criticism in ancient time.
Classical Works:
Plato’s Republic
Aristotle: Poetics and Rhetoric
Horace: Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry)
Longinus: “On the Sublime”

4. The Classical concept of Mimesis
One of the oldest theories of art
Mimemata (the basic nature of poetry, painting, sculpture ,music, dance and thetare) to Mimesis
Complexity of the term Mimesis, commonly called the theory of ‘Imitation’: mimema (imitation), eikon (image), homoioma (likeness)
Mimetic (criticism seeks to see how well a work accords with the real world (is it accurate? correct? moral? ) and Expressive Theory (subjective and personal) of art/liture.

5. Theoretical takes on the Theory of Mimesis/ Imitation:
Plato, the great disciple of Socrates, was the first critic who examined poetry as a part of his moral philosophy.
Plato: Ideal vis- a- vis Real, Idea, Ideal State and Ideal Justice
Poetry’s falsity: “man made dreams produced for those who are awake”- “Immitation of Immitation”, “shadow of shadows” twice removed from the truth.
“Truth value” > pleasure principle of art/ literature

6. Aristotle- Poetics
Aristotle: Stagirite Philosopher and Peripatetic school of thought. Poetics: Answer to Plato’s poetic revulsion – developing in to theory of tragedy-
Poet- Greek verb poiein,to make. Develops ‘Imitation’ beyond truth and flase (Platonic idea) dichotomy towards the aesthetic realm.
Art differs from each other in terms of :
Medium, Object and Manner of Imitation
Division of Poetry/Forms of Expression:
Purely Narrative(Dithyrambic and Lyrical)
Purely Imitative/ Mimetic (Drama)
Combines both (Epic)
Transforms Mimesis (Imitation) to Mathesis (Undersatnding). Understanding and Pleasure, Representation, appearance and becoming

7. Aristotelian Tragedy
Tragedy imitates ‘action’ (praxis), ‘character’ (ethos) and ‘thought’(dianoia), unlike comedy the actions are serious and unlike epic they are rendered in dramatic form.
Constituent Parts of tragedy: Plot (muthos), Character (ethos), Verbal Expression(lexis),Thought or Reasoning (dianoia), Spectacle (opsis) and Song Writing (melos)
Medium of tragic mimesis: (verbal expression and songwriting), the Mode: single (dramatic) and the Objects are three: (action, character and intellect)

8. Action and Plot
Tragedy comprises of ordering of (particular) actions (both physical and mental)
Tragedy thus fashions a single action out of multitude of acts > such a sequence of action represent the Plot (muthos) of the play
Plot- “soul of the tragedy”. Aesthetic beauty for Aristotle was thus a matter of size and order
Principle of ‘wholeness’: Plot must be single with beginning, middle and end
Aristotelian Unities: Unity of Action, Time and Place.

9. Simple and Complex Plot
Aristotle prefers Complex Plot over Simple Plot
The difference lies in use of reversal (peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis)
peripeteia and anagnorisis facilitate the element of ‘surprise’ in tragedy
Textual Example:
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Medea by Ruripedes

10. Hamartia and Katharsis- “beauty of failure”
Hamartia- ‘tragic flaw’, internal flaw in the subject
a failure, fault, error of judgment, guilt and sin
Contesting cliams as ‘flaw’, better perceived as ‘ignorance’ and ‘in-betweenness’ of the act
Beauty of failure- link between peripeteia and anagnorisis
Katharsis: origin in orgiastic music and Dionysian cult
therapeutic byproduct of tragic process, pity and fear
Trans. as purgation, purification and purification

11. Longinus : On the Sublime
“Art is perfect when it seems to be nature, and nature hits the mark when she contains the hidden art within her”
Longinus: Greek teacher of rhetoric (1st-3rd century A.D circa)
Major concern: effect of good writing
Sublime:
Art of poetic expression ,elevated or excellent style,
“consummate excellence in expression”
elevated and lofty language
Need for Sublime:
Decay in oratory
Absence of personal freedom or freedom of speech.
As a consequence it became too pompous and unnatural

12. Sublimity in Literature
Prior to Longinus, the function of poetry-instruct, delight or both and if it was prose- to persuade
Longinus transformed this idea: Not instruct, delight or persuade but to
‘transport’, capacity to move reader to ecstasy caused by the irresistible magic of speech.
Sublime thus excites, moves, elevates and transports
Door way to Romanticism and Transcendentalism

13. Sources of Sublime
Revolves around the concern whether sublime is innate or can it be taught?
Major Sources:
Grandeur of Thought (gift of nature) – “the echo of great soul”
Capacity for Strong Emotion (gift of nature) – True emotion in right place, challenge to Plato’s notion of “traffics in virtual”
Appropriate use of Figures (gift of art)-origin in oratory and rhetorical question, hyberbation and periphrasis
Nobility of Diction (gift of art)- appropriate use of words and figures of speech
Dignity of Composition (gift of art)- fine blend of thought, emotion and figure , if scattered sublimity loosens