Poetics

by Aristotle

Aristotle’s Poetics is the user’s guide to dramatic narrative and dramatic structure. It’s just a ragged little pamphlet really. It’s all about story. Character is important but character comes out of story. People want a great story. But Aristotle is often misrepresented. He says beginning, middle and end, but people talk about the Aristotelian three-act structure. He never said anything about acts.