(3) That Tragedy may produce its
effect even without movement or action in just the same way as Epic
poetry; for from the mere reading of a play its quality may be seen.
So that, if it be superior in all other respects, thi.e.ement of
inferiority is not a necessary part of it.
In the second place, one must remember (1) that Tragedy has everything
that the Epic has (even the epic metre being admissible), together
with a not inconsiderable addition in the shape of the Music (a very
real factor in the pleasure of the drama) and the Spectacle. (2) That
its reality of presentation is felt in the play as read, as well as in
the play as acted. (3) That the tragic imitation requires less space
for the attainment of its end; which is a great advantage, since the
more concentrated effect is more pleasurable than one with a large
admixture of time to dilute it--consider the _Oedipus_ of Sophocles,
for instance, and the effect of expanding it into the number of lines
of the _Iliad_. (4) That there is less unity in the imitation of the
epic poets, as is proved by the fact that any one work of theirs
supplies matter for several tragedies; the result being that, if they
take what is really a single story, it seems curt when briefly told,
and thin and waterish when on the scale of length usual with their
verse.
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