28 pages • 56-minute read
Poetics
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Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Literary Devices
Index of Terms
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
Index of Terms
Catharsis
Deus ex machina
This phrase, which translates as “god in the machine,” means an unlikely coincidence or event which comes to solve what feels like an unsolvable problem in a plot. (Aristotle thinks it’s a cheater’s way out.)
Hamartia
A tragic hero’s fatal flaw.
Hubris
A tragic hero’s excessive cockiness—or even his defiance of the gods. Hubris and hamartia go hand in hand, and both can lead to nemesis (see below).
Mimesis
The act of representation. Mimetic art attempts to represent the world as it really is; poetry is such a form.
Nemesis
The agent of a tragic hero’s inevitable downfall.
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