And since that plenteous autumn is now past/Whose grapes and peaches have indulged your taste/Take in good part, from our poor poet's board/Such rivalled fruits as winter can afford.
-- Poet (Act I paragraph Prologue)

Importance: John Dryden is apologizing for the quality of his play in the prologue, in case it does not please his audience. He claims the autumn harvest has already passed. His audiences or readers are welcome to share the fruits (poetic inspirations) available in the winter (of the poet's muse). Such self-deprecation is not uncommon in the prologues of seventeenth century plays. Here, the imagery used introduces the concept that human lives and loves have seasons of plenty and dearth, just as nature does.

She dotes, Serapion, on this vanquished man/And winds herself about his mighty ruins.
-- Alexas (Act I paragraph Scene 1)

Importance: Alexas is speaking of his mistress, Cleopatra, who is so besotted with Mark Antony that she focuses on keeping his love...