Thinking activity on dryden's dramatic poesy.

1) Do you any difference between Aristotle's definition of Tragedy and Dryden's definition of Play?
Ans: yes, there is huge difference between Aristotle's definition of tragedy and Dryden's definition of play.
According to Aristotle a play or a tragedy  must be an imitation of person's serious side and an imitation of the aspects of life. But according to Dryden a play must be just and lively image of human natture.
2) If you are supposed to give your personal predilection, would you be on the side of the Ancient or the Modern? Please give reasons.

I would go towards moderns because ancients always cling towards their former rules and regulation of drama they strictly follow every unity and rules made by ancients. on the other side modern dramatist always tries to do something new in their way of writing, and tries to mingle the stories of ancients and their own ideas and ideology which gives pleasure to the audience and after all only the audience are the factor which one dramatist always wanted.
3) Do you think that the arguments presented in favour of the French plays and against English plays are appropriate? (Say for example, Death should not be performed as it is neither 'just' not 'liely' image, displaying duel fight with blunted swords, thousands of soldiers marching represented as five on stage, mingling of mirth and serious, multiple plots etc.)

Actually, we can not judge either French plays or English Drama because both having their own charm and specialty in particular fields.  Now the question is about showing some type of scene on stage, I think it is all right to show death scene or love scene on stage, duel fight with blunted swords these all things are normal to show because audiance knows that they are watching play not reality so there is no harm to show these things. Now mingling of mirth and serious or too many sub plots, that is the choice of writer, and tragi-comedy it is good invention or too many sub plots are also acceptable they somehow make play iteresting. So the arguments which are presented against English drama and in favour of french drama is unappropriate.

4) What would be your preference so far as poetic or prosaic dialogues are concerned in the play? 

I think both are equally important and mostly doesn't matter it is prosaic or poetic only matters is meaning or the depth of the dialogue. Well rhymed and meteric poetic lines if don't have depth of meaning than that rhymed lines are worthless. So baisically it doesn't matter the dialogues are in prosaic lines or poetic lines the deep understandig which dialogue gives that is important and every dialogue may be don't need to give deep meaings then even it is upon writers choice in which he wants to write.