Horace art of characterization :
If Plato and Aristotle are the two pillars of Greek and classical criticism, Horace is certainly the pride of Roman criticism. Horace’s Ars Poetica discusses not only the poetic art and function but also the fundamental principles of drama. The art of characterization is one among these features which Horace explains.
Horace suggests to follow the Greek legends and individual craft in creating traditional and new dramatic figures respectively. Characters should possess the typical features of the personality as mentioned in the dramatis personae. If an actor’s words do not match with his rank in the play, then even a common person without critical and aesthetic sense won’t enjoy it. To make a drama realistic, the characters of a child, a youth or an old man should behave like a real-life child, youth or old person. If a youth plays the role of an aged person, that role must “dwell on themes that suit and are akin to each age”. All characters must not behave alike and a distinction should be made between merchants and farmers, gods and heroes. The playwright’s invention must be uniformly consistent and the characters should show a coherent behaviour. There can be “consistently inconsistent” characters, but their indispensable traits should not be changed. A character like Achilles must be wrathful, Medea must be savage and untamable and Orestes must be melancholy.
Horace’s criticism is strongly classical. It puts emphasis on the set form and rules and encourages to maintain the same. He permits occasional experiments, but that too, within limitations. That’s why he prefers flat, two dimensional characters instead of round ones.
Function of poetry :
If Plato and Aristotle are the two pillars of Greek and classical criticism, Horace is certainly the pride of Roman criticism. Horace’s Ars Poetica discusses not only the poetic art, meter and diction but also the functions of poetry. He guides a poet how to create a brilliant piece of poetry that both pleases and functions well.
The poet can “win every vote” if he blends ” what is improving with what pleases” and his intention must be to “delight and instruct the reader”. If the poet invents any fictional thing, it must be near truth so that it doesn’t demand unlimited belief. To establish credibility and universal appeal, the poet must show things as they are : ” Nothing can please many and please long except just representations of general nature “(Johnson’s Preface to Shakespeare). The maxims must be short because ” redundant words overflow from a sated mind”. Elder readers love morality, while Knights and young readers like sweetness of love and emotion. The poet must balance both didactic and pleasure giving elements to please both kind of readers and then only he can cross the spatial and temporal boundaries to attain eternity and universality. Poets are no inferior persons but the ” unacknowledged legislators of the world” who shape and improve the people and the time at large. Platonic idealization and Aristotelian sense of form and structure come together in the Horacian tenet to teach and delight at once.
Artistic unity , or, organic unity :
If Plato and Aristotle are the two pillars of Greek and classical criticism, Horace is certainly the pride of Roman criticism. Horace’s Ars Poetica discusses not only the poetic art, meter and diction but also the organic or the artistic unity. As Aristotle gives the law of three unities of place, time and action in creating a drama, Horace propounds a general theory of unity in any piece of art : ranging from painting to poetry. According to him, any piece of art must have the structural unity which will produce the unity of effect as well. Balance and symmetry are the cardinal virtues in Horace’s notion of organic or artistic unity. If contradictory elements like the sublime and the ludicrous mingle, the effect is only laughter. Combination of contrasting elements like a fair woman above and an ugly foul fish beneath or a horse’s neck and a human head can never excite sublimity or aesthetic pleasure. He doesn’t like that ” wild animals should unite with tame, that serpents should be mated with birds, or lambs with tigers”. He suggests the artist to avoid structural complexity and thematic ambiguity since they both, more often than not, mar the artistic aim to teach and please. Complicated structure might lead to misunderstanding or ignorance of the artistic theme the poet or the painter desires to convey. Therefore, Horace advises to include “if nothing else, simplicity and unity”. His emphasis upon structure and balance shows Horace to be strongly classical and his instructions are suited more to a statuesque than a picturesque aspect : agreeable both in part and as a whole.
Renaissance myth of golden age :
The term “Golden Age” comes from Greek mythology, particularly the “Works and Days” of Hesiod, where he speaks of the five successively degrading ages of gold, silver, bronze, heroic and iron and extols the golden age to be the best. Generally a period with the maximum development and the minimum disorder, often due to the sage governance of a particular monarch or dynasty, is called a golden age. Rome under Augustus and Florence under Lorenzo de Medici had witnessed such golden ages. England’s golden age is certainly the reign of Queen Elizabeth I – the period of the high tide of English Renaissance. As for the political governance, she brought the bloody Catholic- Protestant conflict under control and made England such a force as to overcome the mighty Spanish Armada. Naval achievements by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh led to the discovery of the New World and goods like potato, tobacco and coffee. Expansion of trade and colonialism strengthened England economically. However, the greatest flourish was noticed in literature and cultural temperament. Theocentric society changed into anthropocentric society with added value to rationality and judgement. The light of knowledge penetrated the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Age. Interest in
classical studies and its imitation was revived largely and the literary output was sonnets. Lyrics, romances and pastoral works reflect the Renaissance ideal of beauty and wealth while Bacon’s essays reflect the scientific mindset. Drama reached its apex in the hands of the university wits like Marlowe and England produced her all time greatest genius, William Shakespeare. Renaissance humanism and philosophy added more feathers to Elizabeth’s crown.
Humanism :
The idea of humanism is a typically Renaissance product in the sense that it was a response to the “narrow pedantry” of medieval scholasticism. Renaissance humanism is the idea of emphasizing the importance of human beings more than gods and goddesses. Vogue for humanism was boosted with the rediscovery of classical texts and theories like Epicureanism of Lucretius. The medieval age was completely theocentric and human beings were only subordinate to the will of God and also to God’s earthly agents – the king and the pope. But the Renaissance brought the light of knowledge which illuminated the ” Dark Age” of superstition and ignorance. Interest in classical culture and Greek and Roman studies were aroused and logic and reason were considered greater virtues than blind devotion. Petrarch, the ” Father of Humanism” and Erasmus, the “Prince of Humanists” are two notable personalities related with humanism. Petrarch immortalized his beloved Laura through the sonnet sequence “Canzoniere” and this proves the potential of human creativity which can eternalize a mortal man. Erasmus and Luther questioned the corruption and limitless domination of the church members and set the stage for Reformation. Humanism not only refers to classical studies and importance on humanity but also the total development of human ethics and virtues. Effects of humanism can be traced in works like Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man(1486) – the “Manifesto of the Renaissance” – and Alberti’s theory of the “universal man,” as expressed in his motto, “A man can do all things if he will.”
Periodization :
Periodization is the study of categorizing the past into distinguished labels or terms in order to facilitate the analysis of history and understanding current and historical processes. However, determining the precise beginning and ending to any “period” is often arbitrary since it has changed over time. Without named periods past time would be nothing more than scattered events without a framework. Marxist periodization suggests classification of history into five periods :
Primitive communism, slave society, feudalism capitalism and socialism.
