ABSTRACT
HOW great was Racine? What was his achievement as an artist? The temptation which lies across every assessment of his work is to consider him primarily as a poet and to base his preeminence on that aspect of his talent alone. That Racine was a great poet is now hardly disputed; that he was a great poet because of, rather than in spite of, his limitations, is widely recognized; that he was of necessity a unique poet is less often pointed out.
