Action as the Essence of Poetry: A Revaluation of Lessing's Argument

In terms of its effect on subsequent literary-theory and practice, the proposition that actions constitute the true subject of poetry is the most important aesthetic principle advanced in Laokoon. At the opening of the sixteenth chapter, Lessing attempts to derive this proposition deductively by arguing: Doch ich will versuchen, die Sache aus ihren ersten Gründen herzuleiten.