Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages'Tragedy' has been understood in a variety of conflicting ways over the centuries, and the term has been applied to a wide range of literary works. In this book, H. A. Kelly explores the various meanings given to tragedy, from Aristotle's most basic notion (any serious story, even with a happy ending), via Roman ideas and practices, to the middle ages, when Averroes considered tragedy to be the praise of virtue but Albert the Great thought of it as the recitation of the foul deeds of degenerate men. Professor Kelly demonstrates the importance of finding out what writers like Horace, Ovid, Dante and Chaucer meant by the term, and how they used it as a tool of interpretation and composition. Referring to a wealth of texts, he shows that many modern analyses of ancient and medieval concepts and works are oversimplified and often result in serious misinterpretations. The book ends with surveys of works designated as tragedies in England, France, Italy and Spain. |
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Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages Henry Ansgar Kelly No preview available - 2005 |
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according Ages appears Aristotle Aristotle’s arte autem beginning Boethius called century chapter characterization characters cites classical comedy comes comic commentary commentators composed considered crimes Dante deals death deeds definition discussion drawing earlier edition example explanation fact first follows Fortune French genre given gives gloss Greek idea Ihid indicate Isidore Isidore’s Italy Kelly kind kings later Latin least letter matter mean medieval Middle Mussato namely notion original Ovid passage performed perhaps persons Plautus plays poem Poetics poetry poets praise present prose quia quod recited refers satire says scene seems seen Seneca shows similar sorrow speaks stage story style sunt taken takes tells term theater things tradition tragedy tragedy and comedy tragic translation true various verse writing written wrote