Aristotle

Aristotle (Greek Aristoteles) was born around 384 BCE in Stagira, Greece. At age 17, he went to study in Athens under Plato (428–328 BC) for 20 years, who had been taught by Socrates.

Aristotle wrote an estimated 200 works but only 31 survived, including a work of literary criticism titled Poetics written somewhere between 347 and 335 BCE, which heavily influenced literary theory, especially the Renaissance. Considered one of the first works of literary theory, Poetics explores the effects of drama and epic poetry, and examines how tragedy touches our emotions. In it, Aristotle examined plot, character, and language by analyzing the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Chapters are devoted to poetry, especially that in performance, as well as comedy, epic, and tragedy. Aristotle stated that “poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular,” and indicated that imitation is an important component to human education and the discovery of form in things.

In 322 BCE, Aristotle died at age 62 in Chalcis, Greece.