Sophocles and Aristotle: The Rules of Writing Writing, particularly story writing, is an art. When a person sets out to create a painting, there are certain rules of composition that need to be followed. In the art of writing, it is the same. There are rules of composition for writing and they must be followed by the writer. Some of these rules date back to Aristotle, who set down some rules for classical drama in …showed first 75 words of 728 total…

…showed last 75 words of 728 total…was written out. Perhaps the rules are set into the way the human mind works. Nevertheless, Aristotle’s Poetics is a reliable guide, and one that the great classics follow, regardless of which came first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. Literature of the Western world. Ed. D. Anthony English. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 1028-1043. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Literature of the Western world. Ed. D. Anthony English. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 719-767.