Plato apparently says, in his Ion, that poetic works come from a divine madness (or at least an inspiration of such nature, depending on how literally/seriously you take him on this), and that 'Because the poet is subject to this divine madness, it is not his/her function to convey the truth.[wikipedia-'mimesis'] Thus, Plato says, truth is the concern only (or, like, mostly--at least in terms of....okay, there's clearly a massive gap in this formulation, because he's putting together a dichotomy of humanities that doesn't include, say, history. Anyway) or primarily of philosophy. Interesting.
Wikipedia goes on about Aristotle's contribution, the beginning of which is:' Aristotle also defined mimesis as the perfection and imitation of nature. Art is not only imitation but also the use of mathematical ideas and symmetry in the search for the perfect, the timeless....'
The article goes on:
'...and contrasting being with becoming. Nature is full of change, decay, and cycles, but art can also search for what is everlasting and the first causes of natural phenomena. Aristotle wrote about the idea of four causes in nature. The first formal cause is like a blueprint, or an immortal idea. The second cause is the material, or what a thing is made out of. The third cause is the process and the agent, in which the artist or creator makes the thing. The fourth cause is the good, or the purpose and end of a thing, known as telos.'
There's plenty more, but that's for you to look into, if you choose. This is plenty to chew on.
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