About the Book:

The rules of great drama are not new. Even before William Shakespeare stepped into the spotlight, most of them were laid out more than 2000 years ago by Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Poetics. The Poetics of Aristotle, translated by S.H. Butcher, is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and set the groundwork for how to structure and create a moving dramatic work. What Aristotle addressed in his Poetics was Drama (tragedy) and Comedy in both theatre and literature.

What people say:

"You should be evangelical about Aristotle's Poetics. If there is something wrong with your script, that is because you broke one of those rules." — Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter, playwright and producer

"Aristotle's staple of storytelling structure: a beginning, middle, and end. Aristotle did not give us a “formula” in the pejorative sense of that word, but it is a formula that echoes the biological rhythm of The Audience. I cite Aristotle because I still consider his Poetics to be one of the two bibles for performance drama/comedy." — Lew Hunter, author of Screenwriting 434

About the Author:

Samuel Henry Butcher (1850-1910) was an Anglo-Irish classical scholar. Born in Dublin in 1850, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was made a Fellow in 1874. From 1876 to 1882 he was a Fellow of University College Oxford, before taking up the post of professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh. His many publications included, in collaboration with Andrew Lang, a prose translation of Homer's Odyssey (1879), The Poetics of Aristotle (1902) and Some Aspects of the Greek Genius (1904).