TrackSectionLength
0101 Poetics - Preface25:17
0202 Poetics Chapters 1-39:09
0303 Poetics Chapters 4-59:47
0404 Poetics Chapters 6-813:17
0505 Poetics Chapters 9-1315:15
0606 Poetics Chapter 145:29
0707 Poetics Chapters 15-168:35
0808 Poetics Chapters 17-1910:50
0909 Poetics Chapters 20-2113:20
1010 Poetics Chapters 22-2416:39
1111 Poetics Chapters 25-2615:57
1212 Rhetoric Book I Part 1 Chapters 1-557:38
1313 Rhetoric Book I Part 2 Chapters 6-1056:26
1414 Rhetoric Book I Part 3 Chapters 11-1655:12
1515 Rhetoric Book II Part 1 Chapters 1-91:08:41
1616 Rhetoric Book II Part 2 Chapters 10-211:02:55
1717 Rhetoric Book II Part 3 Chapters 22-281:08:40
1818 Rhetoric Book III Part 1 Chapters 1-101:06:07
1919 Rhetoric Book III Part 2 Chapters 11-1437:54
2020 Rhetoric Book III Part 3 Chapters 15-1937:58

Notes

Poetics
Read by: Robert Foster
Book Coordinator: Robert Foster
Meta Coordinator: Annie Coleman Rothenberg

Rhetoric
Read by: Geoffrey Edwards
Book Coordinator: Geoffrey Edwards
Meta Coordinator: TriciaG
Proof Listener: Leni

Artwork
Cover: 'Aristotle with a Bust of Homer' Rembrandt, 1653, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Inset: Engraving of Aristotle by Ambroise Tardieu (1788-1841)
Insert: Detail showing Aristotle from 'St Thomas kneeling and offering his works to the Roman Catholic Church', between 1883-1887, Ludwig Seitz (1844-1908)

Recordings
These recordings were made using the author’s original published work, which is in the public domain. The readings were recorded by members and volunteers of Librivox.org, which has generously made the recordings available to the public domain. The audio files have been lightly edited and have been engineered using professional audio tools for maximum sonic quality. While Librivox condones the sale and distribution of these recordings, it is not associated with the management or operations of MP3 Audiobook Classics.  



Poetics and Rhetoric together with Ethics and Politics constitute the pillars of Aristotle’s Practical Philosophy.

Poetics is earliest known work that develops a theory of drama and literary forms.  His term poetics encompasses lyric and epic poetry as well as drama in its forms of comedy, tragedy and the satyr play.  All are imitations of life but differ in three ways: differences in music rhythm, meter, harmony and melody; differences in the goodness of the characters; and differences in how the narrative is presented, either acted out or told. The work was lost for centuries and found its way back to the Western world though a Latin translation of an Arabic version written by Averroes. It has been part of a classical education in the Western tradition and has been subject to an ongoing diversity of opinions.

Rhetoric is the first known attempt to develop a system of techniques in the art of persuasion and is still considered “the most important work on persuasion ever written”.  It was not written for publication, but is rather a collection of his students’ notes from his many lectures. It shows the progression of his thought from his decades at Plato’s Academy through his later work at his Lyceum.  During this time the subject evolved from being seen as a potentially dangerous and immoral tool of manipulation of emotion and omission of facts to one of the three elements of philosophy alongside logic and dialectic.


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Item Info
EAN - DVD case 0683422134753
Media MP3 CD
Package DVD Box
Author Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
Translator Poetics translated by Ingram Bywater (1840-1914). Rhetoric translated by Thomas Taylor (1758-1935).
Year circa 350 BC
Recording
Read by Poetics read by Geoffrey Edwards Rhetoric Read by Robert Foster
Length 10 hours 55 minutes. Poetics Length: 2 hours 24 minutes. Rhetoric Length: 8 hours 32 minutes.
Type of Reading Solo

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The Poetics and Rhetoric of Aristotle

  • Author: Aristotle
  • Product Code: DB-1160
  • Availability: In Stock
  • $11.99


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