Excerpt from The Dramatic Art of Lope De Vega: Together With La Dama Boba The large amount which Lope de Vega wrote for the stage manifestly demands a voluminous study of his art to do him full justice. The limited essay here presented may consequently be considered inadequate, and many points which could or ought to be included will be missed. Of that I am aware. But within the confined scope of this attempt my object became twofold: first, to indicate by brief hints along what lines a more detailed investigation could be instituted by someone better fitted than myself, and second, to have, at a future date, some justification for continuing an examination of the many items of interest which Lope constantly suggests. I have refrained from comparing the great Spaniard with other master writers for the theatre, for the obvious reason that it seemed to me more important to outline first an objective presentation of the material derived from Lope himself. Comparative studies in literature are futile and unprofitable to the reader who is not well acquainted with all the elements compared. Moreover, comparisons frequently lead to unjust conclusions whenever they attempt to prove that one writer is greater than another instead of analyzing in an unbiased manner how their delineation and interpretation of life are related. The offhand assertion is frequently to be met with that Moliere and Shakespeare are much greater than Lope de Vega, and yet the writers of such statements too often repeat merely a traditional catch phrase; they do not prepare the ground by adding a just and indispensable picture of the economic and social background which accounts for much that is unique in Lope de Vega's art. The most satisfactory studies of Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Moliere and other master playwrights are those based on direct objective analysis of their productions, and the principles or formula of their art. With these before us, a comparison may profitably be instituted which will further illuminate their methods of composition or reveal the extent to which they held a mirror up to the form of society in which they moved. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.