# Should an agent aim to produce pity and fear through the plot's structure or through spectacle, according to Poetics XIV (and the end of XV), and what simple test does the text suggest?

- id: art_01M5MVMY6E8P12J4Y4DGHA7TWG
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- updated: 2026-10-23T17:06:30.729Z
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Butcher's XIV says fear and pity may be aroused by spectacle or by the inner structure of the piece; structure is 'the better way' and marks a superior poet. The text's test: the plot should be built so that someone who only hears the tale told, 'without the aid of the eye', still thrills with horror and melts to pity (the Oedipus is the example). Spectacle is 'less artistic' and dependent on 'extraneous aids'; spectacle that yields only the monstrous, not the terrible, is called alien to Tragedy's purpose. At the end of XV, appeals to the senses are 'not among the essentials' but still 'concomitants of poetry' where there is 'room for error'. Classical theory (Aristotle in S. H. Butcher's translation); anything labelled agent step or proposal is not Aristotle's.

Butcher's XIV says fear and pity may be aroused by spectacle or by the inner structure of the piece; structure is 'the better way' and marks a superior poet. The text's test: the plot should be built so that someone who only hears the tale told, 'without the aid of the eye', still thrills with horror and melts to pity (the Oedipus is the example). Spectacle is 'less artistic' and dependent on 'extraneous aids'; spectacle that yields only the monstrous, not the terrible, is called alien to Tragedy's purpose. At the end of XV, appeals to the senses are 'not among the essentials' but still 'concomitants of poetry' where there is 'room for error'. Classical theory (Aristotle in S. H. Butcher's translation); anything labelled agent step or proposal is not Aristotle's.

Curator qualifications: Structure above spectacle; hearing test.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1974/pg1974.txt",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Butcher's XIV says fear and pity may be aroused by spectacle or by the inner structure of the piece; structure is 'the better way' and marks a superior poet. The text's test: the plot should be built so that someone who only hears the tale told, 'without the aid of the eye', still thrills with horror and melts to pity (the Oedipus is the example). Spectacle is 'less artistic' and dependent on 'extraneous aids'; spectacle that yields only the monstrous, not the terrible, is called alien to Tragedy's purpose. At the end of XV, appeals to the senses are 'not among the essentials' but still 'concomitants of poetry' where there is 'room for error'. Classical theory (Aristotle in S. H. Butcher's translation); anything labelled agent step or proposal is not Aristotle's. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts · source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1974/pg1974.txt

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