Aristotle’s Poetics

Aristotle is an old guy who had a lot of good ideas about writing that still apply today. One thing I find useful is his categories of poetry. What he says about poetry I believe applies to all kind of writing and can serve as a useful box to help us think about making improvements to our writing. If we can identify a piece of writing by its category, then we can talk about how closely it meets the expectations of the reader in this category and what changes can be made to help the work more fully embody what it is trying to accomplish.

A piece of writing can tell a story (narrative), sing a song (lyric), or enact a moment of tension (dramatic). Each structure has its own requirements:

Narrative: the story must have a beginning, middle, and end; it must chronicle events that occur in time and space; the story must involve action and consequences of action. Short-hand: tell a story

Lyric: writing that uses tight, compressed, charged language in order to convey the intense emotion within a single moment. Unlike a narrative that travels linearly through time and space, a lyric delves into a moment and goes deep into the musicality of language (alliteration, internal rhyme, rhyme, etc.) in order to express it. Short-hand: make meaningful music with words

Dramatic: involves enactment of struggle between two forces; the tension of staying in one place is what creates energy. There are usually two characters of equal power struggling in some way. Short-hand: show a struggle

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In workshop: We do a “stranger” read first, in which someone unfamiliar with the work reads the piece of writing. Then the writer reads his or her work. Along the way, students should pay attention to where both readers stumble, misread, pause, or invert the words on the page. Once the readings are complete, we begin by describing what is happening. This can be insightful for the writer, especially if the entire class has misunderstood one or more parts in the work. Then, we move to categorizing the piece under narrative, lyric, or dramatic. Most writing will be a combination of two or more, but our goal is to identify the dominant impulse in the work. Once that has been decided, we talk about what parts of the work fulfill the expectations of that category and what parts can be enhanced to meet those expectations. After this, the writer is allowed to speak and share his or her intent. The workshop works together to help the writer realize his or her intended purpose.