Four passages in Greek literature dating from before the 4th cent. B.C. portray the poet at work : Aristophanes Au. 904-957, Ach. 395-413, and Thesm. 101-129, and fragments from Cratinus ' « Wineflask » (frr. 208 and 209 Kassel-Austin).
Although these are the only passages where the act of composing is the direct object of the literary performance, implications concerning the mechanisms present in the process of making poetry are to be found in Thesm. 855-919.
The editing attested by this scene points toward an operation starting from a written text.
But even if Aristophanes ' method presupposes the consultation of the text of Euripides ' « Helen », this does not imply equal access by the whole community to a written culture.
