The Poetics

De: Aristotle

Narrado por: Jeffrey Ito

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama—comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play—as well as lyric poetry, epic poetry, and the dithyramb). He examines its "first principles" and identifies its genres and basic elements. His analysis of tragedy constitutes the core of the discussion.

Tragedy consists of six parts which Aristotle enumerates in order of importance, beginning with the most essential and ending with the least: Aristotle considers Tragedy superior to Epics and considers them higher forms of art. Tragedy should make the viewer feel fear and pity. Tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy. Aristotle also talks about "pleasure" that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through the play. Tragedy is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates.

Public Domain (P)2025 Aristotle

Intriguing but Poor audio quality

It's a dry listen, reminds me of University level assignments. The audio quality makes this difficult to listen to in the car (too much sibilance). Names like Sophocles are mispronounced, but I've really gotta hand it to the reader for making this available for free.

I finished because I was interested. People always quote Aristotle so this seemed like an interesting way to hear his own words. It's always interesting to listen to how poetry was performed anciently. There is a lot of reference to instruments being played at the same time. I'm interested to know more.

Was this recorded in a bathroom?

My biggest gripe with this audiobook is that the acoustics sound as if it was recorded in a bathroom. It’s the quality of the sound. The reading was fine.

Horrible narration

Don’t waster your time on this it is not professionally narrated and is very bad quality. Pay for a professional version.

Terrible Reading

The poetics are an essential reading for anyone working in theater, but for this to be its only version on Audible and for it to be read THIS BAD, is very disappointing.