Aristotles On Poetics:Translated by Seth Benardete and Michael Davis
St. Augustine’s Press 2002
Introduction by Michael Davis
Insofar as all human action is always already an imitation of action, it is in its very nature poetic. This places the beginning of Aristotle’s famous definition of tragedy—that tragedy is an imitation of action—in a new light. On Poetics is about two things: poiêsis understood as poetry, or imitation of action, and poiêsis understood as action, which is also imitation of action. It is the distinctive feature of human action, that whenever we choose to do, we imagine an action for ourselves as though we were inspecting it from the outside. Intentions are nothing more than imagined actions, internalizings of the external. All action is therefore imitation of action; it is poetic.
xvii We are rational animals. Poetry, connected to the self-conscious character of action, at the same time manifests the doubleness of human action within itself. Aristotle turns to drama because, to a degree even greater than narrative [end of page xvii] poetry, it reflects the distinction between doing and looking at doing—between acting and reflecting. On the one hand drama must attempt to convince its audience of the reality of its action; on the other hand it must always remain acting—actors always imply spectators.
xvii-xviii Now, if poetry is paradigmatic for action, and drama for poetry—and if tragedy is the most complete form of drama, story the soul of tragedy, and reversal and recognition the core of a story—then by looking at Aristotle’s treatment of recognition and reversal, we ought to be able to learn