There have been various attempts to define literature. We can define it, for example, as 'imaginative ' writing in the sense of fiction writing which is not literally true. But even the briefest reflection on what people commonly include under the heading of literature suggests that this will not do. Literature is not a way of knowing reality but a kind of collective utopian dreaming which has gone throughout history, an expression of those fundamental human desires which have given rise to civilization itself, but which are never fully satisfied there and it is no to be seen as the self-expression of individual author. Tragedy and comedy can be subdivided into high mimetic, low mimetic and ironic; tragedy is about human isolation, comedy about human integration. In the Poetics, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) compares tragedy to such other metrical forms as comedy and epic. He determines that tragedy, like all poetry, is a kind of imitation (mimesis), but adds that it has a serious purpose and uses direct action rather than narrative to achieve its ends. He says that poetic mimesis is imitation of things as they could be, not as they are, for example, of universals and ideals thus poetry is a more philosophical and exalted medium than history, which records what has actually happened.
This is the concept of Imitation (mimesis) by Aristotle.
Imitation
Human instinct of imitating
Fidelity reproducing of facts/experiences
Learning = Live list Pleasure = the Process of Coloring
Aristotle’s concept of mimesis helps us to explain what is distinctive about our experience of art. Poetry is mimetic, meaning that it invites us to imagine its subject matter as real while acknowledging that it is in fact fictional.
Aristotle Theory about tragedy is not difference about Structuralism. Fungsi utama karya sastra adalah untuk melukiskan, mencerminkan kehidupan manusia, sedangkan kehidupan manusia itu sendiri.
References: Adams, Hazard. (Ed). 1991. Critical Theory Since Plato: Revised Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Barry, Peter. 1995. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory Djoko Pradopo, Rachmat. 1995. Beberapa Teori Sastra, Metode Kritik, dan Penerapannya Eagleton, Terry. 2003. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Blackwell. Rafiek, M. 2010. Teori Sastra: Kajian Teori dan Praktik. Bandung: Refika Aditama. Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. 2004. Teori, Metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta.: Pustaka Pelajar.