The treatise we call the Poetics was composed at least 50 years after the death of Sophocles . Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles' Oedipus the King , considering it the perfect tragedy, and not surprisingly, his analysis fits that play most perfectly. I shall therefore use this play to illustrate the following major parts of Aristotle's analysis of tragedy as a literary genre.
History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal.
Therefore they have little relevance for others. See Freytag's Triangle for a diagram that illustrates Aristotle's ideal plot structure, and Plot of Oedipus the King for an application of this diagram to Sophocles' play. Application to Oedipus the King . The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. Both peripeteia and anagnorisis turn upon surprise.