All for Love or, The World Well Lost is John Dryden’s 1677 adaptationof the tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra into a neo-classical quintetwith supporting voices: After Cleopatra’s desertion of Antony at thebattle of Actium, not only his wife Octavia but also his general Ventidius and his friend Dolabella strive to win him over to theirside. Antony, torn between the claims of duty, friendship, dignity andlove, despairs when he hears the rumour of Cleopatra’s death, which isnot, as in Shakespeare’s version, spread by the queen herself but byher deceitful eunuch. This edition includes Dryden’s dedication of theplay to the Earl of Danby and his preface, in which he defends against French neo-classicist strictures the liberties he took with hissources; it further discusses the play’s austere power in the theatre, which is unjustly considered to be inferior to Shakespeare’s quitedistinct version of the story.
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