ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Neander rejects the argument that change of place and time diminishes dramatic credibility in drama. For him, human actions will seem more natural if they get enough time to develop. He also argues that Shakespeare is “the man who of all the modern and perhaps ancient poets, and largest and most comprehensive soul”.

Detailed explanation-2: -Four interlocutors namely Crites, Eugenius, Lisideius and Neander are travelling by boat to see the battle and start a discussion on modern literature.

Detailed explanation-3: -However, there are four characters in the essay: Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius, and Neander, which are originally identified as Charles Sackville, who was a patron of Dryden and poet himself, Sir Robert Howard, Dryden’s brother-in-law, Sir Charles Sedley, and Neander, Dryden himself, respectively.

Detailed explanation-4: -An Essay on Dramatic Poesy is written in the form of a dialogue among four gentlemen: Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius and Neander. Neander speaks for Dryden himself. Eugenius favours modern English dramatists by attacking the classical playwrights, who did not themselves always observe the unity of place.