In this, the fullest attempt in English at a sustained interpretation of Aristotle's Poetics this century, Stephen Halliwell demonstrates that the Poetics, despite its laconic brevity, contains a coherent statement of a challenging theory of poetic art, as well as hints towards a theory of mimetic art in general. He assesses this theory against the background of earlier Greek views on poetry and art, particularly Plato's; and goes further than many previous authors in setting Aristotle's ideas in the wider context of his philosophical system. The core of the book is a fresh appraisal of Aristotle's view of tragic drama, in which Halliwell contends that at the heart of the Poetics lies a philosophical urge to work out a secularized understanding of Greek tragedy.