Keping Wang (Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Western Сlassical Сriticism extends from the Ancient Greek Period to the Early Christian Period, it lasted for 14 centuries. The main objects of “Classical Criticism” are poetry and prose. Poetry includes genres such as epics, odes, mourning poems, lyrical poems, tragic poetry, comedy poetry, satirical poetry, pastoral poetry and others. Prose includes historical narratives, eloquent debates, public speeches, dialogues, letters and others. The authoritative viewpoint in the Western Classical Academic Community holds that, the essential legacy of Classical Criticism includes three works—Aristotle's "Poetics"、 Horace's "The Art of Poetry" and "On the Sublime" under the name of Longinus . The author of this article, Wang Keping, believes that it is necessary to add the tenth volume of Plato's "The Republic" to synthesize four classic texts, which can be regarded as the theoretical collection of classical criticism. Aristotle's "Poetics" is a reversal response to Plato's theory of imitation from the perspective of art philosophy; Horace's "The Art of Poetry" is an original reflection and summary of the art of Latin poetry creation, which was influenced by Aristotle's poetic thought; "On the Sublime" under the name of Longinus was originally written in ancient Greek, and the thought was influenced by Neoplatonism. Therefore, the author believes that it is reasonable to include Plato's poetics in the core heritage of classical criticism from the perspective of the source of thought and the path of development. From the perspective of historical evolution, Plato's text, based on the metaphysical theory of ideas, expounds the theory of imitation involving artistic creation, reproduction and expression, thus laying the foundation for the ontology of poetry as poetry or art as art.
Pyrras 4
Athina 117 45, Greece
