In this the fullest attempt in English at a sustained interpretation of Aristotles 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 Platos and goes further than many previous authors in setting Aristotles ideas in the wide