--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A poet's object is not to tell what…" description: "\"A poet's object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably… For this reason poetry is something..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ad/aristotle-78_facts_a-poet-s-object-is-not-to-tell-what-actu_2924440.jpg" --- # A poet's object is not to tell what actually happened but… ![“A poet's object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably… For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.” quote by Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ad/aristotle-78_facts_a-poet-s-object-is-not-to-tell-what-actu_2924440.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ad/aristotle-78_facts_a-poet-s-object-is-not-to-tell-what-actu_2924440.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ad/aristotle-78_facts_a-poet-s-object-is-not-to-tell-what-actu_2924440.jpg) > “A poet's object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably… For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.” [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry seeks possible truths, not just factual recounting, making it more scientific than history. **In simple terms:** Poetry explores what could happen, not just what did. Key Takeaway Value imaginative insight alongside factual record. Themes creativity truth imagination Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing - education - analysis - critical thinking Key Concepts philosophy literature Questions to Reflect On - What truths can imagination reveal that facts cannot? - How does poetry complement history? A Different Perspective Poetry may lack empirical verification. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Happened](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happened/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-poetry-966873/) [Objects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objects/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poet Object](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet-object-4278289/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-is/) [Poetry Scientific](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-scientific-4278288/) [Poetry Tends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-tends-549878/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Reason Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason-poetry-323328/) [Serious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serious/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/for-this-reason-poetry-is-something-more-philosophical-and-more/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The reason we go to poetry is not for wisdom, but for the dismantling of wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lacan/the-reason-we-go-to-poetry-is-not-for-wisdom-but-for-the-dismantling/) [Jacques Lacan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lacan/) > [“Laura remarked that science was dependent upon poetry, that all scientific description was metaphoric.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/laura-remarked-that-science-was-dependent-upon-poetry-that-all/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [The basis for poetry and scientific discovery is the ability to comprehend the unlike in the like and the like in the unlike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-bronowski/the-basis-for-poetry-and-scientific-discovery-is-the-ability-to/) [Jacob Bronowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-bronowski/) > [Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/poetry-is-finer-and-more-philosophical-than-history-for-poetry/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [“History describes what has happened, poetry what might. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and serious than history; for poetry speaks of what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/history-describes-what-has-happened-poetry-what-might-hence-poetry-is/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [For a lot of people, poetry tends to be dull. It's not read much. It takes a special kind of training and a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-m-disch/for-a-lot-of-people-poetry-tends-to-be-dull-it-s-not-read-much-it/) [Thomas M. Disch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-m-disch/) > [I fell in love with poetry through storytelling, so my poetry tends to be fairly narrative. I like characters, I like having a beginning,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-kay/i-fell-in-love-with-poetry-through-storytelling-so-my-poetry-tends-to/) [Sarah Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-kay/) > [“...fine love poetry tends to be written when the object of one's affection is at a safe distance; also, it often reflects a love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-fox/fine-love-poetry-tends-to-be-written-when-the-object-of-one-s/) [Kate Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-fox/) > [“The very reason why the poetry excites one to such abandonment, such rapture, is that it celebrates some feeling that one used to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-very-reason-why-the-poetry-excites-one-to-such-abandonment-such/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Our fictions move us to do great things, things worth doing for no better reason than there's poetry in us. We dream before we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-willingham/our-fictions-move-us-to-do-great-things-things-worth-doing-for-no/) [Bill Willingham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-willingham/) > [“Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/just-as-someday-if-you-have-something-to-offer-someone-will-learn/) [J.D. 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Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The body is at its best between the ages of thirty and thirty-five; the mind is at its best about the age of forty-nine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-body-is-at-its-best-between-the-ages-of-thirty-and-thirty-five/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. 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Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/give-a-man-a-fish-you-feed-him-for-a-day-give-a-man-a-poisoned-fish/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-man-who-confers-a-favour-would-rather-not-be-repaid-in-the-same/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The mother of revolution and crime is poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-mother-of-revolution-and-crime-is-poverty/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/obstinate-people-can-be-divided-into-the-opinionated-the-ignorant-and/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-pastimes-and-amusements-but-in-virtuous/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/to-learn-is-a-natural-pleasure-not-confined-to-philosophers-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/every-virtue-is-a-mean-between-two-extremes-each-of-which-is-a-vice/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Explore all 1,545 Aristotle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## More Facts quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self- satisfied; in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/so-the-fool-as-distinct-from-the-scoundrel-is-completely-self/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [He bombarded me with words, of all things, apparently clueless to the fact that the predawn hours rendered me incapable of coherent thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darynda-jones/he-bombarded-me-with-words-of-all-things-apparently-clueless-to-the/) [Darynda Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darynda-jones/) > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm Fine!, the most common LIE in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/punkinhead-abhishek/i-m-fine-the-most-common-lie-in-the-world/) [Punkinhead Abhishek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/punkinhead-abhishek/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [I am told many children block out the memory of trauma. In fact, the healing process can only truly begin when we are willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/i-am-told-many-children-block-out-the-memory-of-trauma-in-fact-the/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [Because the truth is that gossip is as good as gospel in this town. 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