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
 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
 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
 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

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 grass-
lands?/ Did he delight/ Cyllene’s lord? Did
Dionysus’ hands/ receive him from a nymph he
loved on Helicon?” (56)
 Colloquialism

 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.
 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.

 Shepherd: “ I wish I might have died that very

day” (57)

 Jocasta: “ O lost and damned!/ This is my last and

only word to /you forever!” (55)

 Oedipus: “ O light! May I never look on you

again,/ revealed as I am, sinful in my begetting,/
 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)

 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.