Our subject being Poetry, I propose to speak not only of the art in
general but also of its species and their respective capacities; of
the structure of plot required for a good poem; of the number and
nature of the constituent parts of a poem; and likewise of any other
matters in the same line of inquiry. Let us follow the natural order
and begin with the primary facts.

Epic poetry and Tragedy, as also Comedy, Dithyrambic poetry, and most
flute-playing and lyre-playing, are all, viewed as a whole, modes of
imitation. But at the same time they differ from one another in three
ways, either by a difference of kind in their means, or by differences
in the objects, or in the manner of their imitations.

I. Just as form and colour are used as means by some, who (whether by
art or constant practice) imitate and portray many things by their
aid, and the voice is used by others; so also in the above-mentioned
group of arts, the means with them as a whole are rhythm, language,
and harmony--used, however, either singly or in certain combinations.
A combination of rhythm and harmony alone is the means in
flute-playing and lyre-playing, and any other arts there may be of the
same description, e.g. imitative piping. Rhythm alone, without
harmony, is the means in the dancer's imitations; for even he, by the
rhythms of his attitudes, may represent men's characters, as well as
what they do and suffer. There is further an art which imitates by
language alone, without harmony, in prose or in verse, and if in
verse, either in some one or in a plurality of metres. This form of
imitation is to this day without a name. We have no common name for a
mime of Sophron or Xenarchus and a Socratic Conversation; and we
should still be without one even if the imitation in the two instances