The wonderfull- to thaumaston-: a forgotten element in the Poetics

Abstract

The Poetics includes one element frequently forgoten by the interpreters which should be studied, to thaumaston (the wonderfull), to comprehend the authentic sense of tragedy acording to Aristotle's philosophy of art. For him, its inclusion is a demand on the tragic representation, because it is the mediation between the causality of events, the unexpected of them and the compasion and fear produced in the spectator by such situation. The wonderfull is pleasant and implies a way of knowing the reality. However, Aristotle characterizes the irrational as principle and cause of the thaumaston. How should we interpretate the term if, for him, poetry is more universal than history and anything in the work of the poet must be kept outside the intelligibility and the verisimilitude of the story?