Aristotle's Poetics

[@Miljadz14988]

This has been one of the best lectures on this. I went to University of Arts (Acting) and I am from Europe originally, but so far, no one has been this clear and accurate about how this philosopher refers to stage and theater. Beautiful work! 👏

[@LitProf]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Zainab.D.]

Allow me please to react in your comment section, but I couldn’t agree more. Dr.Masson’s lectures have been immensely helpful to my studies, covering approximately every module, from Classical Criticism, Novel and Short Story, to Classical Poetry… Always the finest content with the most refined lecture, to which I remain eternally grateful! Thank you Professor.

[@muhammadjaved8932]

Superb❤the best ever lecture I ever had on the poetics. May you live long. Kindly explain catharsis in detail in another lecture.

[@mihapop2167]

I wish you had been our teacher in Faculty! Thank you professor for such a clear and easy to follow lecture on Aristotle!

[@claudette4113]

Thank you Dr Masson. Inciteful, scholarly and beautifully taught.

[@Meg-ht9ke]

I was lucky enough to attend your virtual session on Keats, recently, in India. It was extremely enriching. And Aristotle has never been clearer before this. Thank you, Prof. Masson!

[@LitProf]

My pleasure.

[@evangelosgeronicolas2385]

Thank you again for a great presentation. Before I go back to it for a second time, I would like to add a crucial element from the mythology around Kadmus and Thebes. Laius, the father of Oedipus (and great grandson of Kadmus) when young his life was threatened by usurpers of his throne. He left Thebes and found refuge in the court of king Pelop. There, however, he succumbed to his passion and seduced and abducted Pelop's son Chryssipus. Pierre Grimal, in his dictionnary of Greek and Roman mythology, says that ''according to some he (Laius) invented the counter to nature love'. Because of that Laius drew upon himself the ire of Hera, of Xenius Zeus, and the curse of Pelop. So, in this context, the theme of the tragedy is the expiation of the sin of Laius against divine order. Laius is punished being killed by his own son. But his son also, though personally 'innocent', inherits the sin of his father in his blood. Oedipus' later suffering seems to count as an addiitonal sacrifice for the restauration of the order that was damaged by his father and also by his own killing of his father.

[@LitProf]

What a fascinating additional consideration

[@vikashsharma9837]

Being a life rather student is a complex task in itself to comprehend true purpose of learning.But you've been apparent in this lecture beginning to end now reading books is not a ambiguous point but to get true point.😊

[@badarkhan6007]

Thankyou so much professor for making it this easy !

[@humayvahid]

I loved this lecture!

[@joeroganconnoisseur7364]

I believe you can give any professors a run for their money. I wish I were one of the students sitting under your learning tree. 🌞

[@abopeace3640]

watching for my M.A, History of Criticism EXAMS tomorrow.

[@Mr.rana_2k01]

I feel you RN

[@justinfoard3322]

Superb! I'm going to rely heavily on the points articulated above (if you don't mind) during my AP Literature course this fall. I'm a little nervous as this is my first international school position and I'm not sure how familiar my 12th grade students are with the Western intellectual tradition (the position is in Istanbul). Please pray for me! God bless you. =)

[@LitProf]

Sounds exciting! Hope it turns out well.

[@MsAnkhaa]

Another good lecture :)

[@LitProf]

Thanks again!

[@rijubanshullai1811]

This lecture is quite good it really help

[@LitProf]

Glad to hear it.

[@Miljadz14988]

Thanks !

[@ScribblebytesWorldwide]

Thank you Dr Scott. Do you have one on comedy?

[@LitProf]

No

[@filioque4509]

I think maybe the purpose of purging fear is again to be godly as is the case with pity. Being immortal, gods have no real fear. This is also a feature of animals like pity. Animals can be instinctively weary and repulsed by things, but because they don't really have a conception of the future, they have no real fear of death.

[@LitProf]

This a good guess.

[@MuhammadTayyabvloger2012]

Sir i have a question What Oedipus should have done instead of thinking that he has avoided the prophecy to prevent himself of that catastrophe

[@LitProf]

Nothing he can do. It’s fated. He lives in a fatalistic universe.

[@MuhammadTayyabvloger2012]

Sir is it true that God has not originated it but man himself has... Is fate written by man himself?? Is it law of action? Is it that whatever we do is bound to have a consequence depending on the nature of action. Is it the action of the father Laius who has brought about catastrophi upon Oedipus!? Because he wanted to evade the prophecy?? Will of God was broken so all that happened ??

[@محمدابنهادي]

King's Organization's and I have been thinking 🤔about this and the other thing 🤔has to say about it

[@bradspitt3896]

Do you know why if Aristotle liked the poetry, why did he and most dislike actors?

[@LitProf]

Not sure what you mean exactly. Theatre was such an integral part of Ancient Greek life that the government eventually paid for the poor to attend.

[@bradspitt3896]

@@LitProf Maybe Aristotle didn't have the same opinion, but it seems to be the status quo, and there seems to be an inversion where we lift up the actor and clown in modernity. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitheatricality

[@LitProf]

Greek actors wore masks. Initially it wasn’t even their day job.

[@leavemealone7508]

30:15

[@TheRocknrollmaniac]

An interesting consequence stems from the statement that imitation is one of the bases of human nature and it's connected to autistic individuals who have pronounced deficits of imitation. This inability of theirs can be a consequence of another inability, but it can also actively halt further social development, so it goes both ways. But the viewpoint of Aristotle would really bring an interesting question, the status of autistic individuals vis a vis the "normal" people. They indeed lack something that we deem as profoundly humane. And it is not necessarily the question of intellectual disability, often linked with Autism - people with Down syndrome, for instance, are intellectually disabled, but are perceived in a very different way by the "normal" people.

[@LitProf]

Are autistic people incapable of imitation or of sympathizing with others? It seems like an affective disorder; whereas my limited experience of people with Down’s syndrome is that they are exceptionally capable of affection and sympathy.

[@LitProf]

Some of the most intelligent people I know are so introspective and capable of abstraction that they are almost cold, bordering on manifesting autism.

[@TheRocknrollmaniac]

@@LitProf Indeed, people with Down's syndrome have very normal relationships with others. With autism the issue seems to lie in this inability to socialize with others, hence the experience of "coldness". What I implicitly stated is that autism entails a lack of something very basically human. This doesn't necessarily mean that all autistic individuals aren't human.

[@TheRocknrollmaniac]

@@LitProf The relationship between intellectual ability and autism is perplexing to say the least. I say those cold rationalists would do good to listen to good old Rabelais.

[@LitProf]

I understood, I just don’t think it’s the capacity to imitate but to sympathize.

[@محمدابنهادي]

🤴 0rgnazitons