Editing Classical unities (section)

==Excerpts of Aristotle's ''Poetics''==
Aristotle's ''Poetics'' may not have been available to Trissino when he formulated the unities, and the term "Aristotelian unities" is considered a misnomer, but in spite of this, Aristotle's name became attached to the theory from the beginning. As translations became available, theorists have looked to the ''Poetics'' retrospectively for support of the concept.<ref>Ascoli, Albert Russell, ''Renaissance Drama 36/37: Italy in the Drama of Europe.'' Northwestern University Press, 2010. p. 46-56 {{ISBN|9780810124158}}</ref> In these passages from the ''Poetics'', Aristotle considers action:

<blockquote>Tragedy, then is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude.<ref>Aristotle. Else, Gerald F. ''Aristotle Poetics''. University of Michigan Press (1967). p. 25. {{ISBN|978-0472061662}}</ref> ... A poetic imitation, then, ought to be unified in the same way as a single imitation in any other mimetic field, by having a single object: since the plot is an imitation of an action, the latter ought to be both unified and complete, and the component events ought to be so firmly compacted that if any one of them is shifted to another place, or removed, the whole is loosened up and dislocated; for an element whose addition or subtraction makes no perceptible extra difference is not really a part of the whole.<ref>Aristotle. Else, Gerald F. ''Aristotle Poetics''. University of Michigan Press (1967). p. 32. {{ISBN|978-0472061662}}</ref></blockquote>

Aristotle considers length of time in a distinction between the [[Epic poetry|epic]] and [[tragedy]]:

<blockquote>Well then, epic poetry followed in the wake of tragedy up to the point of being a (1) good-sized (2) imitation (3) in verse (4) of people who are to be taken seriously; but in its having its verse unmixed with any other and being narrative in character, there they differ. Further, so far as its length is concerned tragedy tries as hard as it can to exist during a single daylight period, or to vary but little, while the epic is not limited in its time and so differs in that respect.<ref>Aristotle. Else, Gerald F. ''Aristotle Poetics''. University of Michigan Press (1967). p. 24. {{ISBN|978-0472061662}}</ref></blockquote>