In class this morning

On the basis of what people wrote in their reading journals, I suggested we generate a list of questions that might actually be answered with a bit of reading, and said that I'd post whatever questions we come up with in the next prompt and invite you to find answers.

Those who were there, according to my recollection, posed the following questions, each of which might begin with the phrase, "What can you find out about what scholars or critics have had to say about . . . "

• the actual history All for Love is built on? What's the basic Roman history that his audience would have known?
• the change to blank verse and Dryden's possible motives for it? (especially, was it related to the attack on it in The Rehearsal?)
• the effect of the fact that the play does everything by conversations rather than action? has anyone discussed what the audience appeal of this might have been?
• the differences between Dryden's characterization of Cleopatra and the "historical facts" (either in the Roman history that his audience would have known or what we think now)
• the differences between Dryden's characterization of Cleopatra and the way Shakespeare presents her?
• the reasons Dryden compresses the action of the story, focusing on one place and one narrowly defined time, and what the consequences of this are?

Looking ahead

Our next reading is going to be Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy. While browsing in Dryden, you should find a copy of it. We'll begin, next week mostly likely, by reading the opening section, down to where the four gentlemen agree to discuss drama rather than poetry in general, and agree they should start with a definition.