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has been born instinctively in men. Through such pleasures in imitation, it allows
the young child to learn, as he receives a form of pleasure while doing so.
Furthermore, as Aristotle discussed, such mimetic activity comes naturally to us
together with melody and rhythm. Therefore, by doing poetry, men were able
to further engage such instincts and be able to create more improvisations of
poetry as to what we have today.
Concerns/Questions:
It is not really easy to decipher what Plato and Aristotle had discussed
from the excerpts. I found this powerpoint slide that did help me
understand better on the theory of imitation:
http://www.slideshare.net/dilipbarad/platos-objections-to-poetry-andaristotles-answers
Notes:
Three classic themes/definitions of art (pg.9):
Mimesis imitation
Expression
Form
Issue of aesthetics:
Perception brings a step further that it brings aesthetic (physical) things
into your own processes and making sense of what the art might mean
Greek: Techn Skilled making; involving action
Latin: Ars, artis Similar meaning to Techn; making
Platos excerpt (pg. 142 148):
Grew in the context of poetry In which most poets, he believed, is more
negative as to positive
Plato believes that educating the future generation should be good, and
thus, taking away any poems that hints at bad, that are not true and
deceitful
Problems on Poetry/Theatre/Visual Imitation (Censorship):
(pg. 188) : The fear of death Would not be brave warriors, fighters
(pg. 189) : Tragedy The form of imitation/representation in theatre