Aristotle dissects tragedy and epic poetry into their working parts — plot, character, and catharsis — grounding his theory in close readings of Homer and Sophocles.
Books mentioned in Poetics (3)
Iliad by Homer: “he made the Odyssey, and likewise the Iliad, to centre round an action that in our sense of the word is one.”
The Odyssey by Homer: “In composing the Odyssey he did not include all the adventures of Odysseus”
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles: “The Oedipus of Sophocles is an example.”
Books that mention Poetics (7)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt: “'Aristotle says in the Poetics,' said Henry, 'that objects such as corpses, painful to view in themselves, can become delightful to contemplate in a work of art.'”
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: “"The Aristotle, or what had remained of it after the old man's meal, was already burning." (the lost second book, on comedy, is the central plot object)”
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: “[30] Aristotle, On the Art of Poetry (translated by Ingram Bywater, with a preface by Gilbert Murray, Oxford University Press, 1920).”
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides: “The perfect plot, accordingly, must have a single, and not... —ARISTOTLE, Poetics (Part Three epigraph)”
On Literature by Umberto Eco: “discussed at length as the foundational text of Western literary theory”
The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth: “He taught them The Poetics, The Oresieia, Passage to India, The Alchemist, Portrait of the Artist, King Lear, The Autobiography of Benvenuio Cellini—taught them all like holy books”