No better overview of genre, at lea

No better overview of genre, at least in a traditional and historically significant way, can be gleaned than what we gainfrom a study of Aristotle's Poetics (fourih century n.c.). Fewworks of literary criticism can hope to wear so well, or so long.Our theories of drama and of the epic, the recognition of genresas a way of studying a piece of literature, and our methodologyof studying a work or group of works and then inducing theory from practice-all can find beginnings inthe Poetics. Morespecifically, from the Poetics we have such basic notions ascatharsis; the characteristics of the tragic hero (the noble figure;tragic pride, or hubris; the tragic flaw); the formative elementsof drama (action or plot, character, thought, dictiory melody,and spectacle); the necessary unity of plot; and, perhaps mostsignificantly, the basic concept of mimesis, or imitation, theidea that works of literature are imitations of actions, the differences among them resulting from means, objects, and manner.