Thomas Hobbes's Reply to Davenant's Preface to Gondibert In his "Reply to Davenant's Preface to Gondibert," Thomas Hobbes takes a stab at literary theory. He is asked to write the answer because Davenant mentions Hobbes in the preface to the epic poem Gondibert. Hobbes quickly notes that he is handicapped in two ways because he is 1) incompetent in poetry and 2) flattered by Davenant's praise of him. These obstacles do not prevent Hobbes from outlining a general theory of poetry. Outlines the different types of poetry, discusses the poet and mode of composition, and addresses questions of form, content, and style. His ideas are largely based on his philosophy of rational thought and empirical evidence. Hobbes begins by dividing poetry into three types which correspond to the three types of philosophy and the three "regions of humanity". Philosophy can be divided into "celestial, aerial and terrestrial". Humanity is divided into "court, city and countryside". Poets write about these three different regions of humanity in "three types of poetry, heroic, schomatic and pastoral". Each of these types of poetry can be conveyed in narrative or dramatic form. Hobbes writes: The narrative of the heroic poem...is called an epic poem. The dramatic heroic poem is tragedy. Schomatic narration is satire, drama is comedy. The pastoral narrative is simply called pastoral...; the same dramatic and pastoral comedy. Thus he describes the "six kinds of poetry"; there can be no more or less than that. Regarding what a poem is, Hobbes reiterates the Aristotelian concept according to which verse alone does not make poetry. Hobbes summarizes the difference between historical or philosophical verse and poetic verse in this way: But the subject of a poem is the customs of men, not natural causes; ways presented, not dictated; and false manners, as the name of poetry imports, are not found in men. He goes on to admit that "fictions written in prose" can have access to the world of poetry because prose dabbles in both narrative and style, but, were prose and poetry to compete head-to-head, it would be as if prose were "on foot against the strength and wings of Pegasus". Hobbes briefly addresses the conventions of verse and rhyme in poetry. He reiterates that ancient poets created verses to accompany them with musical accompaniment, which was necessary due to their religious beliefs..