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Rhetoric is reasoning in written word. Aristotle doesn’t go too far into rhetoric in Poetics (he addresses that in his other manuscript Rhetoric); however, he does claim that poets of contemporary tragedy make their characters speak rhetorically, meaning they argue some point or express some idea.
Rhetoric Quotes in Poetics
The Poetics quotes below are all either spoken by Rhetoric or refer to Rhetoric. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4
Quotes
So tragedy as a whole necessarily has six component parts, which determine the tragedy’s quality. The medium of imitation comprises two parts, the mode one, and object three; and there is nothing apart from these.
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Rhetoric Term Timeline in Poetics
The timeline below shows where the term Rhetoric appears in Poetics. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4. Tragedy: Definition and Analysis
...to say what is appropriate and important, which, written in prose, serves the purpose of rhetoric. Contemporary poets make their characters speak rhetorically, and reasoning is the way in which they...
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