Bound, and to torment sent before their time. Thus they the Son of God our Saviour meek Sung victor, and from heav'nly feast refresh'd Brought on his way with joy; he unobserved Home to his mother's house private return'... Samson Igonistes. A DRAMATIC POEM. THE AUTHOR, JOHN MILTON. «Τραγωδία μίμησις πράξεως σπουδαίας,” &c. ARISTOT. Poet. c. vi. ( "Tragoedia et imitatio actionis seriæ, &c. per misericordiam et metum perficiens talium affectuum lustrationem." EL SORT OF DRAMATIC TO ME WHICH IS si, mutta heen ever held the gravest, moralest, Therefore suit by Aristotle to be of power, purge the mint of those and such like them to just measure with a kind of delight, is wel imitatedi. Nor is nature wanting un, for sin paysie things of melancholic agninst sour, salt to remove salt prest writers, as Cicero, Plutarch, and វិលវិញ EDIT s both to adorn and illustrate their sought it not unworthy to insert a verse Saptars, I Cor. IV. 31, and Paræus, com shule beck, as a tragedy, into acts, dis. in the account of many it undergoes a nd gravity, or introducing trivial and of self-defence, or explanation, that this tragedy coming forth after the 1 ners ost abherrence. It was probably on this defence of tragediy, to justify himself for nt manner, much different from what among us passes for best, thus much reband may be epistled : that Chorus is here introduced after the Greek iner, not ancient only but modern, and still in use among the Italians. In the delling therefore of this poem, with good reason, the ancients and Italians are her followed, as of much more authority and fame. The measure of verse uscd the chorus is of all sorts, called by the Greeks Monostrophic, or rather Apolelyrenon, without regard had to Struphe, Antistrophe, or Epode, which were a kind f stanzas framed only for the music then used with the chorus that sung ; not essential to the poem, and therefore not material ; or being divided into stanzas or pauses, they may be called Alloostropha. Division into act and scene referring chiefly to the stage, to wbich this work never was intended, is here omitted. It suffices if the whole drama be found not produced beyond the fifth act; of the style and uniformity, and that commonly called the plot, whether intricate or explicit, which is nothing indeed but such economy, or disposition of the fable as may stand best with verisimilitude and decorum, they only will best judge who are not unacquainted with Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the three tragic poets, unequalled yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavour to write tragedy. The circumscription of time, wherein the whole drama begins and ends is, according to ancient rule and best example, within the space of twenty-four hours. |