This Norton Critical Edition also includes:
- A preface, full introduction, and appendix ("On Tragic and Epic Performance") by Michelle Zerba and David Gorman.
- Ancient Sources," giving readers the opportunity to consider the epic, dramatic, philosophical, and rhetorical texts that influenced the Poetics, including those by Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Gorgias, and Plato, among others.
- Several modern interpretations--by Reuben A. Brower, Humphry House, Grard Genette, Elizabeth Belfiore, and Terence Cave, among others--that speak to the enduring relevance of the Poetics.
- An Annotated Bibliography.