num_pages: 52
description: In many fields of knowledge Aristotle was and is today an outstanding figure. He possessed the most acute powers of observation and analysis, and he applied the systematic method of definition and classification to the study of biology, physics, logic, ethics, metaphysics and literature. His writings, however, are far from systematic in arrangement and far from clear in exposition. The discrepancy between his scientific method and his literary manner is probably to be explained on the hypothesis that the notes were published in the form in which they were found after his death. Poetics is a case in point. The arrangement of the argument is often haphazard. For example, a technical term is frequently used in one chapter and defined in a subsequent chapter; literary forms such as tragedy and epic are distinguished from one another, but the treatment of them is intermingled; and the summary of contents does not correspond in order to the unfolding of the argument. In consequence, the treatise is often confusing to the scholar and to the layman. In this version the text has been rearranged so that it makes the argument clear.
language: English
title: Poetics
titlecomplete: Poetics
characters: Aristotle (philosopher)
genres: Literature, Philosophy, Poetry, Art, Nonfiction, Theory, Ancient, Writing, Literary Criticism, Classics
ratings_count: 24483
places: Ancient Greece
publisher: Museum Tusculanum