关键词: 《论戏剧诗》; 文学对话; 古今之争; 戏剧诗; 文学理论

Abstract: Essay of Dramatic Poesy by John Dryden has been regarded as a work of literary criticism with a focus on the three unities. This paper aims to break through this traditional interpretation and point out the ignored significance of Essay of Dramatic Poesy. By reading this work closely against the literary and historical background of the West, we can find that both the setting and the interlocutors in Essay of Dramatic Poesy are more imaginary than real. Essay of Dramatic Poesy is a fictional literary dialogue. Dryden suggests more than once about this fictionalization in the part of dedication to his patron before the dialogue proper. The naming of the four characters also points to this fictionalization. The arguments involving the three unities, comparisons between English and French drama, and between the ancient and the modern drama, are all closely related to the quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, and are in fact embodiments of this quarrel. Dryden’s juxtaposition of the dialogue between the four speakers on the Thames and the encountering of the English fleet with the Dutch at sea near the mouth of the Thames is by no means random, but in fact purposeful and related to this quarrel. However, this has seldom been mentioned by scholars. In short, Essay of Dramatic Poesy as a fictional literary dialogue has proved to be a tool with which Dryden takes part in this quarrel. This research will to some extent update the scholarship on Dryden and Essay of Dramatic Poesy.

Keywords: Essay of Dramatic Poesy; literary dialogue; quarrel of the ancients and the moderns; dramatic poesy; literary theory