1.  What characteristic epic conventions and techniques does Dryden put to mock-epic use in this poem?  Watch in particular for echoes of Paradise Lost.

2.  According to the satirical point of view conveyed in this poem and in Dryden's "Essay of Dramatic Poesy," what makes poetry bad?  What are the key characteristics of bad literary art?

3.  Much of  "Mac Flecknoe" is a dramatic monologue assigned to the recently-deceased poet and playwright, Richard Flecknoe.  To what extent and in what ways does this section of the poem parody the characteristics of bad writing as Dryden defines them?

4.  How does the poetic form (rhyming iambic pentameter couplets -- known as "heroic couplets") contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?  Are the occasional triplets (marked by parentheses) functional, or merely accidental?

5.  Pay particular attention to Dryden's use of rhyme.  Do you find any rhymes particularly witty?

6. Taking Dryden's own comments on the nature of wit as your defining framework, what phrases or lines of Dryden's poem are particularly witty?

7.  How does Dryden's idea of satire compare to Jonson's (as expressed in the epigram "To the Countess of Bedford, With Mr. Donne's Satires")?  And how does his practice of satire in "Mac Flecknoe" compare to Donne's practice of the genre in his "Satire 3"?