THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM

1. THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM WEEK 3 Literary Criticism SandyaMaulana, S.S.

2. THE CLASSIC LITERARY CRITICISM Plato and Aristotle are succeeded by a number of Roman literary critics. There are some who expand upon Plato’s and Aristotle’s thought, such as Plotinus. There are also others who strive to study other aspects of literature, such as Horace and Longinus, whose works concern aspects of literature not yet described by Plato and Aristotle.

3. HORACE Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) is more interested in the practical question of how the poet may delight and instruct an intelligent reader than he is in defining what a poem is or what literature is. This is connected to his famous catchphrase “utile et dulce” which means that literature must be both enjoyable and useful. This is a notion which is still held as true until today. Horace’s Art of Poetry also contains a number of catchphrases that influence particularly the neo-classical movements of the seventeenth century in France and England. Horace’s version of imitation differs from that of Plato’s and Aristotle’s in that it recognizes the importance of copying nature but emphasizes imitation of the methods of other authors, which implies the importance of the continuity of literary tradition. This emphasis is echoed by neoclassical writers like Boileau and Pope and is heard in a modern version in twentieth century writers like T.S. Eliot and Northrop Frye. Horace also emphasizes decorum, by which he means the rightness of each part to the whole. His concept is also influential in the neoclassical movements. His most influential work remains the Art of Poetry, which summarizes entirely his critical thoughts and influence many neoclassicist writers and, to some extent, modern writers of the twentieth century.

4. LONGINUS In his only surviving work, On the Sublime, Longinus discusses the ways to employ poetic inspiration to reach sublimity of poetry. He emphasizes not only the learning of rhetorical devices but also the imitation and emulation of great writers because they had great souls. In this sense, Longinus’ view is almost similar to Horace’s Though Longinus seems to be demonstrating that sublimity cannot be defined, he proceeds to mention five elements that help create elevated language, the condition that must be achieved to reach sublimity. The first is that sublime author must have “power of forming great conceptions.” The second concerns the “vehement and inspired passion”, while the final three can be considered features of the poem: figures of speech, noble diction, and dignified and elevated composition. Longinus’ treatment of the subject refers sublimity to the work itself and to the author. The idea of the sublime is mainly influential in the eighteenth century partly as a result of Longinus’ essay. Addison, Burke, Kant, and Schopenhauer each defined the sublime in his own way.