Prologue

Prologue, a preface or introduction to a discourse or poem, as the prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; but more especially the discourse or poem spoken before a dramatic performance, corresponding to the Epilogue (q.v.) at its close. This usually stands outside the action of the piece, an external adjunct to it, being, indeed, a mere address to the public occasioned by the play. The introduction proper, again, belongs to the action itself, and this we find provided for in the prologue of Euripides, spoken by one of the characters, in narrative form, half within and half without the action; in the separate induction of many old English plays; and in the preludes and prologues of modern dramas like Faust.