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POETICS

Aristotle

ARISTOTLE ON

THE ART OF POETRY

Translator: Ingram Bywater

Witha a Preface by: Gilber Murray

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS FIRST PUBLISHED 1920 REPRINTED 1925, 1928, 1932, 1938, 1945, 1947 1951, 1954, 1959.  1962 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

Aristotle's Poetics aims to give an account of poetry.  Aristotle does this by attempting to explain poetry through first principles, and by classifying poetry into its different genres and component parts. 

The centerpiece of Aristotle's work is his examination of tragedy.  This occurs in Chapter 6 of "Poetics:" "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions."