Two late critical essays by the poet laureate, written as prefaces to his translations. The first traces satire from its Greek and Roman beginnings through Lucilius, Horace, Persius and Juvenal, weighing their merits and defining the art; the second, prefixed to his Aeneid, defends heroic poetry, Virgil and the translator’s craft. Henry Morley’s introduction sets them beside Dryden’s earlier criticism.
Foundational English literary criticism, still lively and opinionated, for students of satire and the classics. Download the free EPUB.