Aristotle’s Implicit Canon: Epic and Tragedy in Poetics

Abstract

This paper explores the implicit canon presupposed in Aristotle’s Poetics, in order to determine which epic and tragic authors are regarded as models by the treatise, and according to which criteria. It is also analysed which works of those poets are pre-sented by Aristotle as canonical. The paper also deals with the differences and similarities between Aristotle’s implicit canon and the literary canons established by Alexandrian philology.