The heroic play was thus invested with, “the greatness and majesty of a heroic poem.” It was not to hold merely a mirror to nature, but to magnify reality.
It was the representation of nature, “but nature rose to a higher pitch.” The plot, the character, the wit, the passions, descriptions,’ was all to be exalted above the level of common converse. The style was also to be mad epical. It was not to imitate conversation of real life too closely, since sublime subjects ogle to be adorned with the sublimes, and the most figurative expressions.