Below are two links to 1660s literary criticism by John Dryden and Thomas Shadwell. We've talked a bit about Dryden already, but Shadwell is probably new to you. A Restoration playwright and critic, he likely had a hand in revising Dryden and Davenant's revision of Shakespeare's The Tempest, adding songs to make the play even more musical. (The version you skimmed for class two weeks ago is the pre-Shadwell text.)
The text linked to here is the preface to Shadwell's The Sullen Lovers (1668). Dryden's Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1667) is structured as a lengthy conversation between friends. As they discuss the merits of English drama and of the previous generation's playwrights (mainly Jonson, Shakespeare, and Fletcher), they also reveal some of the same preoccupations with the French and with Frenchness that we mentioned last week.
Skim through both as time permits. Be sure, though, to read Dryden's discussion of Epicoene, which he refers to throughout as The Silent Woman . Shadwell's preface, available through Google Books, is included in Restoration Literature: An Anthology, ed. Paul Hammond (NY: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 196-200.
The gentleman pictured above is John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, whom we'll be discussing in class on Thursday. Painted by Sir Peter Lely, c. 1677, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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