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Although Aristotle was best know for his work in philosophy and the natural

sciences, he was also a poet. Poetry, to the Greeks, included drama. Aristotle used the

same methodology in poetry as he used in science. Aristotle made many contributions to

the world, and much of his work still exists today.

In 384/3 B.C., Aristotle was born in the small of Stagira. Stagira is located on the

eastern coast of the peninsula of Chalcidice in Thrace. Aristotle’s father Nicomachus was

a court physician and a friend of Amyntas II, the king of Macedon and the father of Philip

the Great. Proxenus of Atarneus, adopted Aristotle when his father died. When he was

eighteen, Aristotle was sent to Athens. There he was in close association with the

Academy of Plato.

Aristotle developed his writing it Poetics from tragedy as he saw it. A tragedy at

the time had four main characteristics. First, a tragedy must have “unity of action,”

therefore there is only one plot. The main character has to be a good man. This character

commits an error or sin which makes his once happy life miserable, leading to pity and

fear, followed by purification or purgation. Last, Tragedy must include Spectacle,

Melody, Diction, Plot, and Character.

Aristotle was rediscovered during the Renaissance, when in 1498, Poetics was first

published in a Latin translation. France nearly worshipped the work of Aristotle, and the

tragedies written in France at this time followed Aristotle’s rules. Britain paid some

deference to Aristotle, but nothing compared to France. Shakespeare in many ways is the

antithesis of Aristotle, which may explain the rejection of some of his early work abroad.

Greeks, including Aristotle, had...