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XIX
It remains to speak of Diction and Thought, the other parts of Tragedy
having been already discussed. Concerning Thought, we may assume what is
said in the Rhetoric, to which inquiry the subject more strictly belongs.
Under Thought is included every effect which has to be produced by
speech, the subdivisions being,-- proof and refutation; the excitation of
the feelings, such as pity, fear, anger, and the like; the suggestion of
importance or its opposite. Now, it is evident that the dramatic
incidents must be treated from the same points of view as the dramatic
speeches, when the object is to evoke the sense of pity, fear,
importance, or probability. The only difference is, that the incidents
should speak for themselves without verbal exposition; while the effects
aimed at in speech should be produced by the speaker, and as a result of
the speech. For what were the business of a speaker, if the Thought were
revealed quite apart from what he says?
Next, as regards Diction. One branch of the inquiry treats of the Modes
of Utterance. But this province of knowledge belongs to the art of
Delivery and to the masters of that science. It includes, for instance,--
what is a command, a prayer, a statement, a threat, a question, an
answer, and so forth. To know or not to know these things involves no
serious censure upon the poet's art. For who can admit the fault imputed
to Homer by Protagoras,--that in the words, 'Sing, goddess, of the
wrath,' he gives a command under the idea that he utters a prayer? For to
tell some one to do a thing or not to do it is, he says, a command. We
may, therefore, pass this over as an inquiry that belongs to another art,
not to poetry.
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