Quarrel of the Moderns and the Ancients

"Those beauties of the French poesy are such as will raise perfection higher where it is, but are not sufficient to give it where it is not: they are indeed the beauties of a statue but not of a man" (Poesy Abridged). Dryden wrote this essay as a dramatic dialogue with four characters representing four critical positions. The four critical positions are ancients verses moderns, unities, French verses English drama, separation of tragedy and comedy verses tragicomedy and appropriateness of rhyme in drama (Brysons). Neander is in favor of the moderns but he respects the ancients, he also favors English drama while having critical views towards French drama. In "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy" Dryden used character to represent four critical positions, but he cleverly disguised himself as one of them Throughout Dryden's "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy" Neander is believed to represent Dryden's point of view on the different critical issues......

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Title: John Dryden
Approximate Word Count: 926
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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