“What flocks of critics hover here to-day,
As vultures wait on armies for their prey,
All gaping for the carcase of a play!”

— John Dryden , All for Love

Prologue
All for Love (1678)
Context: What flocks of critics hover here to-day,
As vultures wait on armies for their prey,
All gaping for the carcase of a play!
With croaking notes they bode some dire event,
And follow dying poets by the scent.

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John Dryden 196

English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century 1631–1700

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