THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM

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THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM

• WEEK 3
• Literary Criticism
• Sandya Maulana, S.S.

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THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM

• Plato and Aristotle are succeeded by a number of
  Roman literary critics. There are some who expand
  upon Platos and Aristotles thought, such as
  Plotinus. There are also others who strive to
  study other aspects of literature, such as Horace
  and Longinus, whose works concern aspects of
  literature not yet described by Plato and
  Aristotle.

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HORACE

• Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) is more
  interested in the practical question of how the
  poet may delight and instruct an intelligent
  reader than he is in defining what a poem is or
  what literature is. This is connected to his
  famous catchphrase utile et dulce which means
  that literature must be both enjoyable and
  useful. This is a notion which is still held as
  true until today. Horaces Art of Poetry also
  contains a number of catchphrases that influence
  particularly the neo-classical movements of the
  seventeenth century in France and England.
• Horaces version of imitation differs from that
  of Platos and Aristotles in that it recognizes
  the importance of copying nature but emphasizes
  imitation of the methods of other authors, which
  implies the importance of the continuity of
  literary tradition. This emphasis is echoed by
  neoclassical writers like Boileau and Pope and is
  heard in a modern version in twentieth century
  writers like T.S. Eliot and Northrop Frye.
• Horace also emphasizes decorum, by which he means
  the rightness of each part to the whole. His
  concept is also influential in the neoclassical
  movements. His most influential work remains the
  Art of Poetry, which summarizes entirely his
  critical thoughts and influence many
  neoclassicist writers and, to some extent, modern
  writers of the twentieth century.

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LONGINUS

• In his only surviving work, On the Sublime,
  Longinus discusses the ways to employ poetic
  inspiration to reach sublimity of poetry. He
  emphasizes not only the learning of rhetorical
  devices but also the imitation and emulation of
  great writers because they had great souls. In
  this sense, Longinus view is almost similar to
  Horaces
• Though Longinus seems to be demonstrating that
  sublimity cannot be defined, he proceeds to
  mention five elements that help create elevated
  language, the condition that must be achieved to
  reach sublimity. The first is that sublime author
  must have power of forming great conceptions.
  The second concerns the vehement and inspired
  passion, while the final three can be considered
  features of the poem figures of speech, noble
  diction, and dignified and elevated composition.
• Longinus treatment of the subject refers
  sublimity to the work itself and to the author.
  The idea of the sublime is mainly influential in
  the eighteenth century partly as a result of
  Longinus essay. Addison, Burke, Kant, and
  Schopenhauer each defined the sublime in his own
  way.