Poetics refers generally to the theory of literary forms and literary discourse.^{[citation needed]} It may refer specifically to the theory of poetry, although some speakers use the term so broadly as to denote the concept of "theory" itself.^{[citation needed]}

Scholar T.V.F. Brogan identifies three major movements in Western poetics over the past 3000 years, beginning with the formalist, objectivist Aristotelian tradition. During the romantic era, poetics tended toward expressionism and emphasized the perceiving subject. The 20th century witnessed a return to the Aristotelian paradigm, followed by trends toward metacriticality, or the establishment of a theory of poetics.

Eastern poetics developed primarily with reference to the lyric, as opposed to the mimetic.

My program then was named "Theory of Literary Forms" — a title that I supposed to be less ambiguous for minds a little distant from this specialty, if it is one, than its (for me) synonym Poetics.

Nancy Stark Smith (born 1952, Brooklyn, New York) is a dancer and founding participant in contact improvisation.

An alumna of Oberlin College, Smith initially trained as an athlete and gymnast. She studied and performed in modern dance and postmodern dance shows in the early 1970s. She danced in the first contact improvisation shows in 1972, and has since worked as a dancer, performer, instructor, author, and organizer. She has travelled the world to teach and present shows of contact and improvised dance.

She has collaborated with numerous partners including Steve Paxton, Julyen Hamilton, Karen Nelson, and, recently, the musician Mike Vargas. In 1975, she founded Contact Quarterly, an international journal of dance and improvisation, which she continues to co-edit and produce.

Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.

Terence McKenna grew up in Paonia, Colorado. He was introduced to geology through his uncle and developed a hobby of solitary fossil hunting in the arroyos near his home. From this he developed a deep artistic and scientific appreciation of nature.

At age 16, McKenna moved to Los Altos, California to live with family friends for a year. He finished high school in Lancaster, CA. In 1963, McKenna was introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley and certain issues of The Village Voice that talked about psychedelics.

McKenna claimed that one of his early psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds showed him "that there was something there worth pursuing." In an audio interview Terence Mckenna claims to have started smoking cannabis regularly during the summer following his 17th birthday.