Among the most influential books in Western civilization, Aristotle's Poetics is really a treatise on fine art. In it are mentioned not only epic and dithyrambic poetry, but tragedy, comedy, flute playing and lyre playing. Aristotle's conception of tragedy, i.e. the depiction of a heroic action that arouses pity and fear in the spectators and brings about a catharsis of those emotions, has helped perpetuate the Greek ideal of drama to the present day. Similarly, his dictums concerning unity of time and place, the necessity for a play to have a beginning, a middle and end, the idea of the tragic flaw and other concepts have had enormous influence down through the ages.
Throughout the work, Aristotle reveals not only a great intellect analyzing the nature of poetry, music and drama, but also a down-to-earth understanding of the practical problems facing a poet and playwright.
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