Aristotle's Poetics

Stephen Halliwell's translation incorporates the results of the best modern work on the Poetics. It is aimed at those--especially students of Greek literature in translation, and of drama and literature from the Renaissance onwards--who want a reliable version of Aristotle's ideas together with concise and stimulating guidance to their significance, particularly from the perspective of later literary criticism. For each chapter of the Poetics there is a running commentary which explains the structure and detail of further thought about the work's strengths and weaknesses, and offers some suggestions on relating the Poetics to later stages of literary theory and practice.

An introduction discusses the influence of the Poetics on the development of literary critical terminology and thinking in England since the sixteenth century. A glossary of names and important terms is provided, as well as an annotated bibliography.