Aristotle's+Poet+List

  =Aristotle's Poetics Character List =

Aeschylus
Aeschylus is the author of the frequently-cited **Oresteia**, a play trilogy which includes **Agamemnon**. Aristotle attributes Aeschylus with a number of important innovations in the theater, __including introducing a second actor, diminishing the importance of the chorus, and focusing on dialogue rather than music or dance__ (both of which were important elements in Ancient Greek theater). But Aristotle also faults Aeschylus, arguing that the playwright __did not create a distinct poetic language__.

Euripides
Aristotle refers to the tragedian Euripides - the author of **Medea**, **The Bacchae**, and over __seventy other plays of which only nineteen have survived__ - as a master of plot. Aristotle comes to Euripides' defense often in the // Poetics //, saying that though critics censured his work as morose, his plays were often the best because they were the 'most tragic.' Aristotle conceives of the tragic effectin Euripedes' plays as flowing from the inner logic of their plots, which always included a fall from good fortune to bad.

Sophocles
Sophocles is the author of Oedipus, and considered by Aristotle the master of the tragedy. He draws men 'as they ought to be,' and creates a higher view of humans. Aristotle compares Sophocles to **Homer** for his tendency to idealize humanity. The playwright is also credited with raising the number of actors on the stage to three, and with adding scene-painting as a part of spectacle.   Source: __ [|Aristotle's Poetics Character List] __