This is taken from Project Gutenburg. Copyright details at the bottom of this post.
This breaks apart Aristotle’s Poetics into sections so that it isn’t so overwhelming, and can be read slowly and deliberately across the next two weeks. This is a translation by S.H. Butcher.
I. Same thing, different medium: imitation.
II. Men as objects in action: better, worse, or as they are?
III. Manner of imitation: narration versus dramatization.
IV. The impulse of imitation, or we are all natural copycats.
V. Comedy as imitation of the lower type: the ludicrous as subdivision of the ugly.
VI. Tragedy as imitation of life: Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song.
VII. The plot: no haphazard beginnings or endings.
VIII. Plot is not equal to hero.
IX. The point: not to relate what has happened, but what may happen.
X. In plots as in real life: simple or complex?
XI. Reversal and recognition = surprises.
XIII. Well-constructed plot is a single-issue plot.
XIV. Spectacle as a less artistic method of plot.
XV. Character goals: goodness, propriety, verisimilitude, consistency.
XVI. The best plot twists are integrated into the plot.
XVII. Write the plot like you were watching it happen.
XVIII. Two parts make a plot: complication and unraveling.
XIX. Choosing words well, choosing forms well.
XXI. A lesson on words.
XXII. Suggestion on style: Clear but not commonplace.
XXIII. Plot quickly defined VS the epic.
XXIV. The epic defined.
XXV. How to critique a tragedy.
XXVI. The tragedy as superior to epic.
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