SOURCE: "Aristotle's Poetics," in Ancients and Moderns: Essays on the Tradition of Political Philosophy in Honor of Leo Strauss, edited by Joseph Cropsey, Basic Books Inc., Publishers, 1964, pp.

In the following essay, Berns reviews several aspects of Aristotle's Poetics which he believes have been misunderstood. He examines what Aristotle meant by the term "imitation"; the role of pity and fear in enabling purgation; and character traits of the "tragic hero."

Henry Jackson, the highly respected classical scholar, an editor of some texts of Aristotle, paid the following compliment to Aristotle's Politics. "It is an amazing book," he said. "It seems to me to show a Shakesperian understanding of human beings and their ways.…" Aristotle, the philosopher, is praised because his understanding of human beings approaches or matches that of Shakespeare, the poet. The poet's understanding is the standard. In this remark, Jackson seems to take it for granted...