Comedy or Tragedy: Someone Should Have Told Shakespeare
When comedy was talked about, the thought
Of Plato and his mates was that the laugh
Was different from the groan. A playwright ought
To write just one of these. It was a gaffe
To try to make the comic and the sad.
The writers for the theatre should know
Which genre was their own, to make the glad
Hilarity for seated crowds, or mow
Them down with grief. No poet for the stage
In ancient Greece attempted both. If one
Wrote tragedy and filled the heart with rage,
He couldn’t be expected to write fun.
Poetry was just a technical craft.
To try your hand at both would prove you daft.