Literary Aspects Of Mimesis In Literature

Mimesis is one of the significant literary terms that are widely used in literary aspects including art, poetry and drama. Certainly being the most fundamental term in artistic theory, mimesis defines our perception on art, literature and influencing generally on the representation of things. Even if we are unaware of the existence of such a word Mimesis, the idea is a strong rooted truth that upholds and beatifies the world of Literature and artistic theory. Mimesis is a distinctive term that allows us to analyze critically, develop insights to evaluate, and expand the ability to communicate with any piece of literature
Mimesis, a word that is translated from the Greek as ‘imitation’, mimesis explains the relationship between the reality and

The idea of mimesis took a different route. Mimesis was not solely on the connection of the work and art of the world that it represents, but it also connects with the producers and receivers of the work of art as well as their connection to the world. Dramatic emphasis is shifted to oratorical emphasis: relating to the arts of public speaking. This resulted in in a change of the nature of poetry as an art form between Greek and Arab contexts. For Greeks, Drama was the highest form of art and in contrast, drama acts as a theatrical performance, was adequately known. Performance in Arabic poetry is recitational and thus Arab philosophers drew more attention with mimesis in language. Arab philosophers closely connected the term takhyil to the term phantasia that was created by Aristotle. Phantasia is defined as the poetic ability to create images in the memory of an audience. This shows an attribution to mimesis with language as imagination and memory are closely connected. The images evoked in mimesis is not merely a picture that is instilled, rather it is a complex whole that includes other aspects such as rational thinking, emotional senses and the ability of mankind to utilize the sensory details of a certain image. This shows that Arabic commentaries on Aristotle’s Poetics lay affirm on the imaginative representation as medium of instilling rational thoughts and

He further expanded the term mimesis in two kinds: the actual, that is achieved by doing something; and verbal that is achieved by saying something. Al-Farabi divided the each in two sub-classes. The actual mimesis could be either reached through the making of an object that represents an original product. For an example, actual mimesis can be represented in form of statue of a person or acting out as someone in performance arts. On the other hand, verbal mimesis, can be either direct imitation of the original object. An example would be the literary device called onomatopoeia: words that evoke the same feeling they describe. According to Al-Farabi, mimesis is an imaginative act and it is not a mere representation of the ideal world. It is an act of reconstruction of the world as the poet lives and perceives similar images in the hearer’s mind. The highlight of the differences on the take of mimesis is the relation between choice of word and the reality of the world. The order of words according to a particular poetry convicts the truth and falsehood and it is solely up to the poet to portray their representation in accordance to the language and rhythms