Poetry, An Imitation of Nature: Thomistic Principles Clarify an Age-old Problem in Aesthetics

POETRY, AN IMITATION OF NATURE THOMISTIC PRINCIPLES CLARIFY AN AGE-OLD PROBLEM IN AESTHETICS IN aesthetics, as in other fields of practical philosophy, so much ink is spilled over theoretical problems that most readers find their ideas left in a very muddled state. One of the main bones of contention among the critics is the question of Imitation of Nature. Does art really imitate nature, and if so, how? Aristotle, following Plato, popularized the term long ago. Hundreds of critics have used and abused it since. The question ~s still a burning one: What does Imitation of Nature mean? Is it even philosophically possible to find out? The answer now, as ever, is to be found in that vast and comprehensive legacy of thought left to us by St. Thomas Aquinas. Thomistic thought in some practical fields-especially in that of ethics and moral conduct-is very specific, not only in laying down general norms but in drawing their applications. In others, a short and busy life left him time only for a systematic treatment of principles, with their application relegated to others. On still other important points of practical philosophy St. Thomas' gems of wisdom are hidden away in an A.d secundum, to be ferreted out by the specialists. St. Thomas' reflections on art fall under these two latter heads. In bringing them to bear on the problem at hand it is the author's intention to find concrete applications for them in the field of poetry. It is to be kept in mind, however, that a few faulty applications of these principles do not damage the status of the principles themselves. I Imitation of Nature, as an aesthetic question, should first be approached from the historic point of view. Only by seeing what authors have thought and said on the matter can we 896 POETRY, AN IMITATION OF NATURE 897 realize the force of the problem and evolve our own solution of it. Plato, with his theory of participation of forms, was the first to venture an opinion on imitation and the artist. It was far from sympathetic, sad to say, although Plato himself was a literary genius. The natural world, said Plato, is only a distant imitation of the subsistent forms. Art, therefore, is the imitation of an imitation-thrice removed ·from reality! Aristot]e's Poetics did not treat the problem quite as conclusively as we might wish, since it dealt only with narrative and dramatic poetry. The Stagirite here lays down the norm that both tragedy and epic are an imitation of men acting. There is a full development of this point, of course, but it is not quite universal enough to be applied in detail to all arts. It is rather in the second book of the Physics that Aristotle comes to grips with this larger problem. His statements are the basis of St. Thomas' close analysis, which will be considered shortly. Longinus, in his essay On the Sublime, introduced imitation under a new guise. Imitation, for him, meant following in the footsteps of genius. Three rules sum up his ideal very neatly: strive to rival the greats; imagine how Homer or Sophocles would have expressed your idea; try to envision Homer or some other great poet listening to you recite your poem. Horace's outlook on poetry in general, and imitation in particular, was typically shrewd and practical rather than broadly philosophical. But some of his Renaissance descendants opened a Pandora's box to all future literary critics, and art critics in general. Julius Scaliger, for example, was of the opinion that " poetry adds a fictitious element to the truth " and that it " fashions images of those things which are not, as well as images more beautiful than life of those which are." 1 Sir Philip Sidney argued that the poet " doth in effect growe another nature, in making things either better than Nature 1 Scaliger, Poetics. 898 JAMES TORRENS briligeth forth, or quite a new formes such as never were in Nature." He goes on to speak of the poet as one who" goeth hand in hand with Nature, not inclosed within the narrow warrant of her guifts, but freely ranging...