how to kill a dragon: aspects of indo-european poetics is a 1995 book about comparative indo-european poetics by the linguist and classicist calvert watkins. it was first published on november 16, 1995 through oxford university press and is both an introduction to comparative poetics and an investigation of the myths about dragon-slayers found in different times and in different indo-european languages. watkins received a 1998 "goodwin award of merit" from the american philological association (now the society for classical studies) for his work on the book.