In Poetics, Aristotle gave a model of Greek Drama. The bulk of the surviving text describes Greek Tragedies of his era. The latest debate being over the existence and even possibility of modern tragedies. Most people can agree that modern drama can be tragic. However, beyond this point the issue becomes blurred.
Some critics claim that classic tragedies are a thing of the past.
The first documented case of this was back in Elizabethan England. We can date rather precisely the moment at which these claims were first presented. Nor is it needful, or almost possible in these our times . . . to observe the old state and splendor of dramatic poems, with preservati on of any popular delight. That the subject is capable of interesting so many writers over the centuries is part proof that the idea of tragedy is constantly changing, and more, that it will never be finally defined. In our day, however when there seems so little time or inclination to theorize at all, certain elemental misconceptions have taken hold of both critics and readers to a point where the word has often been reduced to an epithet.