Aristotle's poetics : literally translated, with explanatory notes and an analysis

The translation of Aristotle's Poetics in this volume is for students only. The main goal of translation is strict adherence to the original, to achieve which English idioms are often, moreover, usually sacrificed. It is quite obvious that this circumstance should make the work inelegant, but it was never intended to do so. This book has been written specifically to help those who wish to read the book, for their instruction both in language and in subject matter, and this purpose is most easily achieved by attentive attention to the exact meaning of each word in the original, and not by giving, which is called free translation so that sentences can be neatly rounded. Sometimes, because of the extreme precision of the Aristotelian language, it happens that the insertion of some words which are not in Greek is absolutely necessary in order to make the author's thought clearer. Such words printed in italics so that the reader, by omitting them, can understand the very expression that Aristotle uses. In some places, where proximity to the original makes the meaning obscure, the reader will find a fuller explanation in the notes, and in others, where a strict verbal translation would be nonsense, the meaning is expressed in the text, and the literal translation is given in the notes. Utility is the goal of this work, and it is generally hoped that it will achieve this goal. To make it as useful as possible, a brief analysis of the entire book is included.