Western Civilization & Human Development : Creative Writing

Aristotle’s Literary Legacy As you learned in the section about Greek plays, we owe a remarkable debt to the Greeks for their legacy in theater. Aristotle captured some of these concepts in his works on the structure of plays in the Poetica. His legacy is still the foundation of literature that students learn in the ninth grade about stories: plot, character; theme, and beyond. What does this tell us about the long legacy of Greek thought from ancient times to the present? The concepts of Aristotle about stories, as outlined in his Poetica, are still the foundation of literary analysis. The Presspage website article, Lessons from Ancient Greece - Aristotle on Storytelling, describes how a good news reporter makes use of Aristotle’s concepts if he wants his reader to be engaged in what s/he writes. The basic concepts of plot, character, scene, and tone that we learned in the 9th grade are all straight from Aristotle. View the following 7-minute YouTube to see how even modern stories like that of StarWars make effective use of Aristotle’s concepts. The Tragic Hero from Aristotle's Poetics - The Fall of Anakin Skywalker (6:28) For this assignment, think about how identity, including attributes such as gender, race, class and culture might play a role in a story’s plot, character development, and theme. Then, make up a short story using one or more identity elements as a key part of the plot, character and theme. You can base your story on one that is well-known if you like. Offer a paragraph or two about how the concepts of Aristotle contribute to your being able to create your story.