Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant
philosophical treatise which deals with literary theory. In this text Aristotle offers an
account of poetry or the poetic art. Aristotle divides poetry into verse drama (that includes
comedy tragedy and the satyr play) lyric poetry and epic. He differentiates these genres by
rhythm music melody goodness of characters whether the narrative is told or acted on stage.
