National Collegiate Honors Council

 

Date of this Version

2024

Document Type

Article

Citation

Honors in Practice (2024) 20; National Collegiate Honors Council; Guest editor: John Zubizarreta

Comments

Copyright 2024, National Collegiate Honors Council. Used by permission.

Abstract

The paper describes a class that introduces Aristotle’s Poetics from the perspective of his scientific, especially biological, treatises: a systematic analysis of what emotions a tragedy is supposed to elicit and how they are resolved by the audience (homoeopathy). Students read 11 ancient and modern plays and view one film, observing whether his theory of the Tragic explains our responses. The final project includes the writing of a tragic story (not a drama) evincing the students’ own understanding of the Tragic based on the readings.

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