Aristotle and Dramatic Construction

1. Aristotle and Dramatic Construction • Because Aristotle saw poetry and drama as means to an end (for example, an audience's enjoyment) he established some basic guidelines for authors to follow to achieve certain objectives. • To help authors achieve their objectives, Aristotle developed elements of organization and methods for writing effective poetry and drama known as the principles of dramatic construction (Richter 39).

2. Dramatic Construction • Aristotle believed that elements like "...language, rhythm, and harmony..." as well as "...plot, character, thought, diction, song, and spectacle..." influence the audience's katharsis (pity and fear) or satisfaction with the work (Richter 39). • This is one of the earliest attempts to explain what makes an effective or ineffective work of literature.

3. New Criticism and Formalism

4. Formalism • Formalists disagreed about what specific elements make a literary work "good" or "bad“ • Formalism maintains that a literary work contains certain intrinsic features, and the theory "...defined and addressed the specifically literary qualities in the text" (Richter 699). • Therefore, it's easy to see Formalism's relation to Aristotle's theories of dramatic construction.

5. Formalism • Formalism attempts to treat each work as its own distinct piece, free from its environment, era, and even author. • Formalists assume that the keys to understanding a text exist within "the text itself