Aristotle’s Poetics & Oedipus - Diction

Aristotle’s Poetics & Oedipus Diction?!….. wonderbread?

Diction      

simply your choice of words no single, correct diction in the English language One chooses different words or phrases for different contexts A writer or speaker’s distinctive vocabulary choices & style of expression the art of speaking clearly so that each word is understood to its fullest complexity and extremity Reveals how a passage establishes tone and characterization

Metaphors 

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Metaphors usually appear in the Chorus “ Whose hand/ Again shall lead us through/ Storm to tranquility?” (45) Oedipus: “ I am the child of fortune,/ the giver of good, and I shall not be shamed;/ my sisters are the seasons;/ my rising and my falling march with theirs” (55) The appearance of metaphors within the Chorus is one of the details that make Chorus seem almost divine Chorus: “ He was our bastion against disaster, our honoured king.” (59) Chorus: “ Where a more awful swerve into the arms of torment?” (59)

Metaphors 

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Chorus: “ Yesterday my morning of light, now my night of endless darkness!” (59) Attendant: “ Fruit of luckless misbegetting” (60) Attendant: “ That soil where I was sown, and where I reaped my harvest!” (60) Chorus: “ When the same bosom enfolded the son and the father,/ [c]ould not the engendering clay have shouted aloud its indignation? Time sees all; and now he/ has found you when you least expected it.” (59)

Metaphors 

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Attendant: “ And thrust…seeing nothing but night” (61) The attendant doesn’t just say “ he stabbed his eyes so he became blind”, metaphor between the light (truth) and the darkness (denial of truth) Chorus: “ What demon of destiny/ with swift assault outstriding/ has ridden you down?” (62) Evidence about destiny vs. free will; here, the chorus uses metaphor “demon” of destiny

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Rhyme Scheme Freedom of using rhyme scheme or not, can use

rhyme scheme in certain sections for emphasis The melodious aspect of rhyme scheme tends to give Oedipus Rex more of a poetic aspect Rhyme scheme serves as a reminder to audience that they are viewing a play – gives play a beneficially unrealistic quality Oedipus: “ And why should I repent? Chorus: His oath should be his shield. Who never played you false before Oedipus: You know for what you pray? Chorus: We know, Oedipus: Say more. Chorus: He swore/ his friendship; is it right to cast away /a friend, condemned unheard./ Upon an

Allusions   

The time period affects the allusions used Common allusions are related to the Gods Chorus: “ Was this offspring born of some primeval sprite/ by the love-glance beguiled/ of mountain-haunting Pan? Or child/ of Loxias, very son/ to our bright God who walks the high grasslands?/ Did he delight/ Cyllene’s lord? Did Dionysus’ hands/ receive him from a nymph he loved on Helicon?” (56)

Colloquialism 

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different translations may contain different words, since some words have synonyms or various meanings hidden allusions/jokes of the time may be lost on people of now since we were not privy to the events which inspired them some colloquialisms have been lost throughout translation

Colloquialism 

Oedipus: "...to the Pythian house of Apollo..." (pg. 27) There is much usage of the names of Gods something that would have not appeared in a later period since this work was written during the period of Greek mythology.

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Creon: “...or the payment of blood for blood..." (pg. 28) Mentions of period laws or rules, often to do with the breaking of laws and their retributions, perhaps a play or the whole light vs. darkness truth thing again, i.e. law and right and wrong.

Colloquialism 

Oedipus: "...for them the earth be barren of harvest..." (pg. 33) -many references to farming or other agricultural events, since farming and the changing of the seasons played a much larger role in the lives of people of that time than it does today, and that is reflected in their language. Often appears as comparing a human event or the human condition as a seasonal change.

Language Effect on Story 

Melodramatic language is popular within the play and is another tool used to emphasize the tragedy Ex.) In King Oedipus, the tragic qualities of the play are emphasized by the diction that appears within the Chorus –metaphors, rhyming, etc.

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Shepherd: “ I wish I might have died that very day” (57)

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Jocasta: “ O lost and damned!/ This is my last and only word to /you forever!” (55)

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Oedipus: “ O light! May I never look on you again,/ revealed as I am, sinful in my begetting,/

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Chorus: “ All the generations of mortal man add up to nothing! Show me the man whose happiness was anything more than illusion/ Followed by disillusion. Here is the instance, here is Oedipus, here is the reason/ Why I will call no mortal creature happy.” (59)

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Attendant: “ To this wild tune/ he pierced his eyeballs time and time again,/ till bloody tears ran down his beard- not drops/ but in full spate a whole cascade descending/ in drenching cataracts of scarlet rain.” (61)

Rhythmic Devices 

Jocasta: “ Each holding each to blame? Chorus: Just so. Jocasta: For what? Chorus: Ask not.” (44) -Shows that Sophocles meant for diction to play a heavy role in the control of the dramatic aspects of the play. The amount of stressed syllables puts emphasis on the conversation between the Chorus and Jocasta.