16
It is a great thing to make a proper use of each of the elements mentioned, and of double words and rare words too, but by far the greatest thing is the use of metaphor.
17
That alone cannot be learnt; it is the token of genius. For the right use of metaphor means an eye for resemblances.i.e., the power of detecting identity in difference which distinguishes also both the philosopher and the scientist.
18
Of the various kinds of words the double forms are most suited for dithyrambs, rare words for heroic verse and metaphors for iambics.
19
And indeed in heroic verse they are all useful; but since iambic verse is largely an imitation of speech, only those nouns are suitable which might be used in talking. These are the ordinary word, metaphor, and ornament.
20
Now concerning tragedy and the art of representing life in action, what we have said already must suffice.
1
We come now to the art of representation which is narrative and in metre.i.e., epic. Clearly the story must be constructed as in tragedy, dramatically, round a single piece of action, whole and complete in itself,with a beginning, middle and end, so that like a single living organism it may produce its own peculiar form of pleasure.
2
It must not be such as we normally find in history, where what is required is an exposition not of a single piece of action but of a single period of time, showing all that within the period befell one or more persons, events that have a merely casual relation to each other.
