Classics Study Questions-I

Poetics
1.How do epic poetry and tragedy, comedy also, dithyrambic differ in terms of the manner of mode of imitation?
2.How are the origin of poetry and imitation related?
3.How does Aristotle define tragedy and what are the elements of tragedy?
4.Why are the elements of emotional—reversal of the situation and recognition scenes—important in the construction of the plot?
5.What does Aristotle mean by the unity of the plot?
6.What are the quantitative parts into which tragedy is divided?
7.What is catharsis and what is its significance in tragedy?
8.What are the kinds of recognition?
9.What are the similarities and differences between epic poetry and tragedy?
10.Why does Aristotle evaluate as superior to the epic poetry?
The Birth of Tragedy
1.What is the distinction between the two art worlds of dreams and drunkenness?
2.How does Nietzsche explain Apollo's relationship to the rest of the Olympian gods?
3.What reasons does Nietzsche give for stating that subjective art is not really art?
4.In what way does the Dionysian man resemble Hamlet?
5.In what ways does Oedipus act as a tragic hero, by Nietzsche's definition of 'hero'?
6.How do Apollo and Dionysus differ in their conception of boundaries?
7.Why does historicism destroy myth?
8.What are some major differences between Euripides and his predecessors?
9.How does Socrates' use of instinct differ from that of other men?
10.What is Nietzsche's definition of art? What art does he consider to be degenerate, and why?
NOTE: The remaining part of the study questions of the texts discussed in the class will be given tomorrow.