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Quotation from Poetics by Aristotle
“Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular.”
Poetics, Chapter IX, trans. S. H. Butcher
Contrasting the poet with Herodotus, Aristotle argues that poetry shows what a kind of person would probably or necessarily do.
Citation: "Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular." — Aristotle, Poetics, Chapter IX, trans. S. H. Butcher. (id aristotle-poetics-q6)
Portrait: Aristotle Altemps Inv8575, After Lysippos, Public domain.
