The Greek artistic performances have been theorised by Aristotle in his book 'Poetics.' He is theorising about the popular art form - drama. He puts up the advantages of watching a drama. He recommends tragedy as he thinks it can represent the reality of life and help people 'heal'.
The critical formulations are Socratic in model preferring reality to fiction. He delves into the limitations of epic, and formulates the greatness of tragedy. Logic is the backbone of his argument, and he suggests the plot must be logical. It has to be convincing to the audience.
The book launched two important concepts - mimesis and catharsis.
Thereby he makes the following assumptions.
1. Art is only representational. It is duplicating reality. It only imitates.
2. Art is profoundly healing. It is a necessary facet of life. We cannot do without it.
Poetics is significant even after 2000 years, as it has attempted to write down the theory of drama. Aristotle has presented how to create the content in a drama: a good man should not lose in the end; a bad man should not win in the end.
The next 2000 years of western literary criticism reflected Aristotlean criticism. The break comes with 'New Criticism.'
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