III. In the mode of narrative, epic A. has some general likeness to tragedy xxiii 1. in that its [component] stories should be single, complete, having beginning, middle, and end a. giving the pleasure of a living whole b. not following the method of history (1) as inferior poets do, but not Homer 2. in that it may be simple or complex, emphasize either character or emotion, and has some of the same elements as tragedy xxiv B. differs in length and in meter 1. Its characteristic advantages are scope and variety 2. The respective meters are the result of experience in appropriateness C. shows in Homer the superiority of making the characters reveal themselves without explanation D. can make freer use of the marvelous 1. by vividness of description 2. from the fact that the causal sense is weaker in reading or merely listening than in witnessing stage representation E. may be defended against the typical charges that it is impossible, improbable, corrupting, contradictory, or artistically incorrect xxv F. is inferior to tragedy xxvi 1. The charge that tragedy is more vulgar and exaggerated applies not to tragedy, but to acting 2. It has fewer elements of appeal a. lacking music and spectacle 3. It is less vivid than tragedy read [much less than tragedy acted] 4. It is less concentrated [and so less intense] a. lacking dramatic unity. I The principle of poetic art is imitation. Its two kinds are drama in several forms and that other kind which ranges from epic to dialogue and which has no single generic name. All its forms in both kinds—tragedy, comedy, dithyramb in the one; epic, mime, dialogue in the other—are grouped with the arts of the flute, the lyre, and the dance, and apart from those of painting and singing. Thus begins Aristotle’s _Poetic_ with that chapter of definition which, as in the _Rhetoric_, opens and illuminates the whole subject. As to poetic art[11] I propose to discuss what it is in itself and in the capacity of each of its species, how plots must be organized if the poem is to succeed, furthermore the number and nature of the parts, and similarly whatever else falls within the same inquiry, beginning systematically with first principles.[12]