The Boundary between Poetry and Painting--A Brief Review from the Chapter XVI of Laocoon from G.E. Lessing

Abstract

Laocoon is the representative literary work from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and the summary plot is on the basis of the difference between poetry and painting in the perspective of literary expression. Since the debut of Laocoon in 1766, aesthetics has become explicit and influenced the advancement of philosophy and literature. Lessing emphasized the distinction and boundary between poetry and painting and elaborated the dialectic sectors in order to illustrate his humanist assertions. However, Lessing neglected the loathsome works and contradict the relation between expression and aesthetics and that’s the major shortcoming of this literary work.