Discussing comparative poeticsComparative Poetics necessarily involves a brief sketch of the concept of “poetics.” “Poetics” in the Western context refers to literary theory in general. However, “poetics” is rendered as Shixue诗学 in Chinese. Often, it is understandably misconceived as studies of poetry. In the West, the concept of poetics as literary theory has a time-honored tradition: its origin can be traced back to Aristotle’s ground-breaking work Poetics, written more than 2000 years ago.