This essay examines the distinctive capacities and limits of visual and literary arts, arguing that painting and sculpture imitate bodies and forms presented simultaneously in space while poetry imitates actions and processes unfolding in time. The author analyzes classical examples, notably a famous sculptural group depicting a suffering figure entwined by serpents, to illustrate how medium-specific laws determine appropriate expression. The text critiques modern critics who conflate artistic modes, surveys ancient aesthetic principles, and offers practical guidelines about description, allegory, and the proper relation between subject matter and the expressive means of each art.