Aristotle’s Rules For Tragedy

Aristotle’s Rules For Tragedy Laid Down In Poetics As They Apply To Blood Relations By Sharon Pollock Aristotle could be considered the first popular literary critic. Unlike Plato, who all but condemned written verse, Aristotle breaks it down and analyses it so as to separate the good from the bad. He studies in great detail what components make a decent epic or tragedy. The main sections he comes up with are form, means and …

…have changed drastically since Shakespeare’s time, never mind Aristotle’s. In light of these changing values, not all of Aristotle’s views are applicable to modern theatre. That is not to say that they are not sound, just that they do not apply. Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed.David H. Richter. 2nd. Ed. Boston: Bedford, 1998. 42-64. Pollock, Sharon. Blood Relations and Other Plays. Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1981.