SOURCE: "'Suréna'," in Corneille and Racine: Problems of Tragic Form, Cambridge at the University Press, 1973, pp. 141-54.

In the following essay, Pocock examines Corneille 's Suréna, a drama "loved by those who value formal perfection."

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Steiner has been tempted to call Suréna Corneille's masterpiece. Whatever value we assign it, it stands apart from the other plays. Its characters are few, its plot simple, love predominates over politics, it exhales a languorous pessimism. There are not qualities we call Cornelian, and we might suspect the influence of Racine: Suréna was, after all, written later than most of Racine's plays. Nevertheless, the general impression left by Suréna is not at all Racinian. We are on former ground if we look at Suréna by itself and ask ourselves two questions: what is Corneille trying to express? and are the means of expression appropriate?

The key...