Poetics by Aristotle (best e reader for manga txt) 📖
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compound, those composed either of a significant and non-significant
element (though within the whole word no element is significant), or of
elements that are both significant. A word may likewise be triple,
quadruple, or multiple in form, like so many Massilian expressions, e.g.
‘Hermo-caico-xanthus who prayed to Father Zeus>.’
Every word is either current, or strange, or metaphorical, or ornamental,
or newly-coined, or lengthened, or contracted, or altered.
By a current or proper word I mean one which is in general use among a
people; by a strange word, one which is in use in another country.
Plainly, therefore, the same word may be at once strange and current, but
not in relation to the same people. The word {sigma iota gamma upsilon nu
omicron nu}, ‘lance,’ is to the Cyprians a current term but to us a
strange one.
Metaphor is the application of an alien name by transference either from
genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species,
or by analogy, that is, proportion. Thus from genus to species, as: ‘There
lies my ship’; for lying at anchor is a species of lying. From species to
genus, as: ‘Verily ten thousand noble deeds hath Odysseus wrought’; for
ten thousand is a species of large number, and is here used for a large
number generally. From species to species, as: ‘With blade of bronze drew
away the life,’ and ‘Cleft the water with the vessel of unyielding
bronze.’ Here {alpha rho upsilon rho alpha iota}, ‘to draw away,’ is used
for {tau alpha mu epsilon iota nu}, ‘to cleave,’ and {tau alpha mu
epsilon iota nu} again for {alpha rho upsilon alpha iota},—each being a
species of taking away. Analogy or proportion is when the second term is
to the first as the fourth to the third. We may then use the fourth for
the second, or the second for the fourth. Sometimes too we qualify the
metaphor by adding the term to which the proper word is relative. Thus
the cup is to Dionysus as the shield to Ares. The cup may, therefore, be
called ‘the shield of Dionysus,’ and the shield ‘the cup of Ares.’ Or,
again, as old age is to life, so is evening to day. Evening may therefore
be called ‘the old age of the day,’ and old age, ‘the evening of life,’
or, in the phrase of Empedocles, ‘life’s setting sun.’ For some of the
terms of the proportion there is at times no word in existence; still the
metaphor may be used. For instance, to scatter seed is called sowing: but
the action of the sun in scattering his rays is nameless. Still this
process bears to the sun the same relation as sowing to the seed. Hence
the expression of the poet ‘sowing the god-created light.’ There is
another way in which this kind of metaphor may be employed. We may apply
an alien term, and then deny of that term one of its proper attributes;
as if we were to call the shield, not ‘the cup of Ares,’ but ‘the
wineless cup.’
<An ornamental word …>
A newly-coined word is one which has never been even in local use, but is
adopted by the poet himself. Some such words there appear to be: as
{epsilon rho nu upsilon gamma epsilon sigma}, ‘sprouters,’ for {kappa
epsilon rho alpha tau alpha}, ‘horns,’ and {alpha rho eta tau eta rho},
‘supplicator,’ for {iota epsilon rho epsilon upsilon sigma}, ‘priest.’
A word is lengthened when its own vowel is exchanged for a longer one, or
when a syllable is inserted. A word is contracted when some part of it is
removed. Instances of lengthening are,—{pi omicron lambda eta omicron
sigma} for {pi omicron lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and {Pi eta lambda
eta iota alpha delta epsilon omega} for {Pi eta lambda epsilon iota delta
omicron upsilon}: of contraction,—{kappa rho iota}, {delta omega}, and
{omicron psi}, as in {mu iota alpha / gamma iota nu epsilon tau alpha
iota / alpha mu phi omicron tau episilon rho omega nu / omicron psi}.
An altered word is one in which part of the ordinary form is left
unchanged, and part is re-cast; as in {delta epsilon xi iota-tau epsilon
rho omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha / mu alpha zeta omicron nu},
{delta epsilon xi iota tau epsilon rho omicron nu} is for {delta epsilon
xi iota omicron nu}.
[Nouns in themselves are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine
are such as end in {nu}, {rho}, {sigma}, or in some letter compounded
with {sigma},—these being two, and {xi}. Feminine, such as end in vowels
that are always long, namely {eta} and {omega}, and—of vowels that admit
of lengthening—those in {alpha}. Thus the number of letters in which
nouns masculine and feminine end is the same; for {psi} and {xi} are
equivalent to endings in {sigma}. No noun ends in a mute or a vowel short
by nature. Three only end in {iota},—{mu eta lambda iota}, {kappa
omicron mu mu iota}, {pi epsilon pi epsilon rho iota}: five end in
{upsilon}. Neuter nouns end in these two latter vowels; also in {nu} and
{sigma}.]
XXIIThe perfection of style is to be clear without being mean. The clearest
style is that which uses only current or proper words; at the same time
it is mean:—witness the poetry of Cleophon and of Sthenelus. That
diction, on the other hand, is lofty and raised above the commonplace
which employs unusual words. By unusual, I mean strange (or rare) words,
metaphorical, lengthened,—anything, in short, that differs from the
normal idiom. Yet a style wholly composed of such words is either a
riddle or a jargon; a riddle, if it consists of metaphors; a jargon, if
it consists of strange (or rare) words. For the essence of a riddle is to
express true facts under impossible combinations. Now this cannot be done
by any arrangement of ordinary words, but by the use of metaphor it can.
Such is the riddle:—‘A man I saw who on another man had glued the bronze
by aid of fire,’ and others of the same kind. A diction that is made up
of strange (or rare) terms is a jargon. A certain infusion, therefore, of
these elements is necessary to style; for the strange (or rare) word, the
metaphorical, the ornamental, and the other kinds above mentioned, will
raise it above the commonplace and mean, while the use of proper words
will make it perspicuous. But nothing contributes more to produce a
clearness of diction that is remote from commonness than the lengthening,
contraction, and alteration of words. For by deviating in exceptional
cases from the normal idiom, the language will gain distinction; while,
at the same time, the partial conformity with usage will give
perspicuity. The critics, therefore, are in error who censure these
licenses of speech, and hold the author up to ridicule. Thus Eucleides,
the elder, declared that it would be an easy matter to be a poet if you
might lengthen syllables at will. He caricatured the practice in the very
form of his diction, as in the verse: ‘{Epsilon pi iota chi alpha rho eta
nu / epsilon iota delta omicron nu / Mu alpha rho alpha theta omega nu
alpha delta epsilon / Beta alpha delta iota zeta omicron nu tau alpha},
or, {omicron upsilon kappa alpha nu gamma / epsilon rho alpha mu
epsilon nu omicron sigma / tau omicron nu / epsilon kappa epsilon iota nu
omicron upsilon /epsilon lambda lambda epsilon beta omicron rho omicron
nu}. To employ such license at all obtrusively is, no doubt, grotesque;
but in any mode of poetic diction there must be moderation. Even
metaphors, strange (or rare) words, or any similar forms of speech, would
produce the like effect if used without propriety and with the express
purpose of being ludicrous. How great a difference is made by the
appropriate use of lengthening, may be seen in Epic poetry by the
insertion of ordinary forms in the verse. So, again, if we take a strange
(or rare) word, a metaphor, or any similar mode of expression, and
replace it by the current or proper term, the truth of our observation
will be manifest. For example Aeschylus and Euripides each composed the
same iambic line. But the alteration of a single word by Euripides, who
employed the rarer term instead of the ordinary one, makes one verse
appear beautiful and the other trivial. Aeschylus in his Philoctetes
says: {Phi alpha gamma epsilon delta alpha iota nu alpha <delta> eta
mu omicron upsilon sigma alpha rho kappa alpha sigma / epsilon rho
theta iota epsilon iota / pi omicron delta omicron sigma}.
Euripides substitutes {Theta omicron iota nu alpha tau alpha iota}
‘feasts on’ for {epsilon sigma theta iota epsilon iota} ‘feeds on.’
Again, in the line, {nu upsilon nu delta epsilon mu /epsilon omega nu
/ omicron lambda iota gamma iota gamma upsilon sigma tau epsilon
kappa alpha iota / omicron upsilon tau iota delta alpha nu omicron sigma
kappa alpha iota alpha epsilon iota kappa eta sigma, the difference
will be felt if we substitute the common words, {nu upsilon nu / delta
epsilon mu epsilon omega nu mu iota kappa rho omicron sigma tau
epsilon kappa alpha iota alpha rho theta epsilon nu iota kappa
omicron sigma kappa alpha iota alpha epsilon iota delta gamma sigma}.
Or, if for the line, {delta iota phi rho omicron nu / alpha epsilon iota
kappa epsilon lambda iota omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha theta
epsilon iota sigma / omicron lambda iota gamma eta nu tau epsilon tau
rho alpha pi epsilon iota sigma omicron lambda iota gamma eta nu tau
epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha nu),} We read, {delta iota
phi rho omicron nu mu omicron chi theta eta rho omicron nu kappa
alpha tau alpha theta epsilon iota sigma mu iota kappa rho alpha nu
tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha nu}.
Or, for {eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma / beta omicron omicron omega
rho iota nu, eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma kappa rho alpha zeta
omicron upsilon rho iota nu}
Again, Ariphrades ridiculed the tragedians for using phrases which no one
would employ in ordinary speech: for example, {delta omega mu alpha tau
omega nu alpha pi omicron} instead of {alpha pi omicron delta omega
mu alpha tau omega nu}, {rho epsilon theta epsilon nu}, {epsilon gamma
omega delta epsilon nu iota nu}, {Alpha chi iota lambda lambda
epsilon omega sigma / pi epsilon rho iota} instead of (pi epsilon rho
iota / ‘Alpha chi iota lambda lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and the like.
It is precisely because such phrases are not part of the current idiom
that they give distinction to the style. This, however, he failed to see.
It is a great matter to observe propriety in these several modes of
expression, as also in compound words, strange (or rare) words, and so
forth. But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.
This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for
to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
Of the various kinds of words, the compound are best adapted to
Dithyrambs, rare words to heroic poetry, metaphors to iambic. In heroic
poetry, indeed, all these varieties are serviceable. But in iambic verse,
which reproduces, as far as may be, familiar speech, the most appropriate
words are those which are found even in prose. These
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