Aristotle, Poetics

From RhetorClick

Brief Summary

Here is a link to an online version of Aristotle's Poetics.

There are only 26 surviving chapters of the poetics, and they focus mainly on epics and tragedies (his work on comedy has sadly been lost). Aristotle distinguishes between rhetoric and poetry, claiming that "Socratic dialogues" cannot rightly be compared with poetry, because their only real connection is that they both use language. He goes on to say, rather beautifully, that it's "not the [use of language] that makes the poet, but the verse that entitles them all to the name."

Applications of Theory

This page is going to briefly outline the Poetics. The book is divided into several "books" that will each be briefly summarized here.