"Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations"
About this Quote
A sly eighteenth-century swipe at the idea that good writing is basically a matter of carpentry. Walpole stacks the usual badges of “proper” drama - plot, rules, even poetry itself - only to demote them beneath what he calls “a just imitation of nature.” The provocation isn’t that structure and verse don’t matter. It’s that they’re secondary to a harder, less teachable craft: making people recognizable in motion, under pressure, with passions that behave the way passions actually do.
The phrasing does quiet work. “Just” signals moral and aesthetic accuracy at once: not a photocopy of life, but a calibrated likeness that feels fair, true, and proportioned. “Imitation of nature” nods to classical mimesis, yet Walpole tilts it away from marble ideals and toward psychology: “character,” “the passions and their operations,” “diversified situations.” He’s arguing for drama as an engine of human behavior, not a parade of elevated language.
Context sharpens the intent. Walpole is writing in a culture still haunted by neoclassical rules and the prestige of “poetic” drama, even as the novel and sentimental theater are training audiences to crave interiority and plausible motive. He’s also the author of The Castle of Otranto, a book that breaks the so-called rules with glee. Underneath the tasteful diction is a rebel’s claim: if art doesn’t catch how people actually act when desire, fear, pride, and shame collide, then elegance is just expensive decoration.
The phrasing does quiet work. “Just” signals moral and aesthetic accuracy at once: not a photocopy of life, but a calibrated likeness that feels fair, true, and proportioned. “Imitation of nature” nods to classical mimesis, yet Walpole tilts it away from marble ideals and toward psychology: “character,” “the passions and their operations,” “diversified situations.” He’s arguing for drama as an engine of human behavior, not a parade of elevated language.
Context sharpens the intent. Walpole is writing in a culture still haunted by neoclassical rules and the prestige of “poetic” drama, even as the novel and sentimental theater are training audiences to crave interiority and plausible motive. He’s also the author of The Castle of Otranto, a book that breaks the so-called rules with glee. Underneath the tasteful diction is a rebel’s claim: if art doesn’t catch how people actually act when desire, fear, pride, and shame collide, then elegance is just expensive decoration.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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