Sunday 15 June 2008

The Tragic Muse


















Buffalo Billy
Had a ten-foot willy

And he showed it to the girl next door.

She thought it was a snake
And she hit it with a rake

And now it's only two foot four.

As Aristotle said in his Poetics, "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody." (Trans S. H. Butcher)

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