Poetics

by Aristotle · c. 335 BCE

S. H. Butcher's translation, 1902. 24 parts, about 14,960 words, 68 minutes of reading. Source edition.

Passages the guide marks

Poetry is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular.
Chapter 9 · Read it in IX
But the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the…
Chapter 22
A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Chapter 7 · Read it in VII
Tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, which through pity and fear accomplishes the catharsis of such emotions.
Chapter 6 · Read it in VI

About this text

Public domain in the United States; the Project Gutenberg edition is free of restrictions under the Project Gutenberg License. Translated by S. H. Butcher. It is not the edition the programs assign; the guide names that one, and the buy links there point at it.

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