An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

“An  Essay  of  Dramatic  Poesy”

Ø Introduction

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, dramatist and trancelator. He was born in 19 aug, 1931 and died in 12 may, 1700).He has given many precious works in a restoration age. Walter Scott called him “Glorious John “. His precious works are ‘An Essay on Dramatic Poesy ‘,’The Wild Gerrant ‘,’ Absalam and Achitophel’, ‘ MacFlecknoe’.

Here, we only talk about his ‘An essay on dramatic poesy’. It was published in 1668. Here, we have four speakers Eugenious, Crites, Lisideus and Neander who debate on who is better Ancient or Modern,  have learned from the ancients, they analyzed their mistakes and plus points. Another side Crites favors the ancients as they establishes unities and followed rules given by Aristotle. And by follower ing these rules French were giving their best. And the classicist Ben Johson also follows it. Lisideios is in the side of French drama as they don’t mix comedy and tragedy in one literature and by doing it they make their works classical. So, he believes that French dramas are superior to English dramas. While Neander, Dryden himself does  not  make  it  right  as  he  favors  English  plays  and  supports  the  moderns  over  the  ancients.  But  it’s  not  mean  that  he  neglects  the  ancients  and  hate  French drama  may  be  more  classical  but  they  are  not  creating  lively  image  of  reality  as  English  playwrights  does.  He  also  believes  that  there  is  nothing  wrong  with  tragic-comedy. Then,  they  all  talk  about  what  play  should  be  and  they  start  discussion  on  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  French  and  English  drama and  who  are  best  ancients  or  Moderns.

Ø Definition of Play

“Just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humors, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”

According to the definition, drama is an ‘image’ of ‘human nature’, and the image is ‘just’ and ‘lively’. By using the word ‘just’ Dryden seems to imply that literature imitates human actions. For Dryden, ‘poetic imitation’ is different from an exact, servile copy of reality, for, the imitation is not only ‘just’; it is also ‘lively’.

  Ø Crites’s  view

                            Crites  was  first  to  present  his  view  that  ancients  are  far  better  than  the  moderns.He  describes  that moderns are depend  on  ancients  as  they  are  borrowed  forms  and  subjects  from  them.  They are  only  breaking  rules  of  time,  place  and  action  English  playwrights  have  no  time  limitations.  There  should  be  the  only  one  place  from  begging  to  end  but  moderns  are  changing  it  several  times.  There  should  be  only  one  action  that  is  well  and  complete  but  moderns  are  including  sub-plots  and  make  it  complex.  So, the  modern  writers  don’t  follow  the  three  unities  so  they  are  nothing  towards  the  ancients. By the unity of Time he meant that the action of a play should not be exceed “Compass of a natural day”, By the Unity of Place he meant that scene ought to be continued in the same place from the beginning to the end for the stage s “But one and the same Place”. It is Unnatural to shift the action from one place to another, especially to distant places. This will give the greatest likelihood to untruth. By the Unity of action, he meant that there should not be two or more actions. There should be only one action at a time to cover the whole Plot. The Ancient observed the three dramatic unities faithfully, and The Romans, The French, and The English dramatists tried their best to observe them, though not always successfully. Thus, The Ancients are our first law-givers as well as models for the Moderns to follow.

  Ø Euginies view

Euginies  believes  that  the  modern  are  superior  than  the  ancients.  Eugenious  said  that  the  modern  have  profited  by  the  rules  of  the  ancients.  But the modern have excelled them  .he points first to some discrepancies in the application of the unities , mentioning that there seem to be four parts in Aristotle’s method. As regards  the action , Eugenius contends  that they are transparent , everybody already having  known what  will happen , that roman borrowed from the Greeks and that the deus ex machina convention is wrek escape.

   As far as the unity of place is concerned , he suggested that the Ancients were not the ones to insists on it too much as the French , and that insistence  has caused  some artificial entrances and exist of characters. Ancients  many emotions , they neglected love, which is the most frequent  of all enthusiasm. The English Dramatist wrote their Plays on new Themes. In Comedies, the Greek and Roman playwrights repeated common theme of lost children coming back to their home after gap of many years. This often repeated theme lost its interest to the spectators.so,the English Dramatist invented new and interesting themes. In all these respects the English Dramatists of the last age were better than the Greek or Roman Dramatists.

  Ø Lisideious  view

                   Lisideius  believers  that  French  dramas  are  better  than  the  English  drama. He  gives  very  first  reason  that  they  follows  the  rules  established  by  the  ancients. They  are  the  protector  of  three  unities  time, place  and  action. They  are  very  faithful  towards  the  time.  They  are  equally  scrupulous  towards  the  unity  of  place.In  their  plays  they  have  finished  entire  play  in  one  place. They  are  very  punctual  about  action  as  there  is  no  sub-plot  in  most  of  their  plays. They  don’t  belive  in  mix  genre  like  English  dramatist  who  mix  tragedy  and  comedy  in  one  play  and  make  it  more  complex.  Lisidious  adds  that  there   is  no  drama  in  the  world  is  so  absurd  as  the  English  tragic-comedy. According  to  Aristotle, at  the  end  of  the  play, it  Arouses  catharsis  in  spectacle  but  here  it  genres  mirth  and  compassion  which  are  very  opposite.The  English  are  responsible  for  this  mistake,  while  French  are  not. He further  adds  that  the  French  write  their  plays  in  rhyming  verse  which  is  far  beautiful  than  the  blank  verse  in  which  English  playwrights  write. Further, the French generally write their tragedies on well-known historical facts which the people can easily comprehend. They do not make their plots so complicated that the spectators may lose their patience. In their plays the hero is most important, and rests of the characters are marginalized to him.Finally,The French write their plays in beautiful rhyming verse which is far sweeter than the blank verse in which the English plays are written. To Sum Up, The French playwrights are superior to the English.

  Ø Neander  views

                   Neander  favors  English  dramas  over  French  drama  as  English  dramas  create  lively  image  while  French  dramas  are  not  able  to  do  it.  He starts with argument  that  French  dramatist  are  imitating  English.  He  says  that  more  regularity  in  play  make  it  more  alike.  He  also  believes  that  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  tragic – comedy  as  it  gives  relief  to  spectacle  from  heaviness  tragedy.He  further  tells  about  presenting  death  on  stage.In  this  reply  on  the  basis  of  definition  of  play  which  was  agreed  by  four  of  them. He  says  that  death  is  the  reality  of  the  life  and  violence  is  the  truth  of  this  world. Finally, he  says  that  English  dramatists  are  putting  a  lively  picture  of  a  life  in  drama. French  are  not  best  to  present  lively  image  while  English  plays  are  far  better  than  their  plays  as  they  put  a  clear  picture  of  life  and  nature  in  their  plays. In the First place French drama, whether comic or tragic, lacks in emotion and passion. English dramatists surpass them in both. The English tragedies produce fear and pity more powerfully, and their comedies excel in producing delightful humors and Romantic love. He equally defends the insertion of under plots which highlight the main plot.Coming to the dramatic unities of Time and Place, he says that their observance might adversely affect the total impact of a play. It is unbelievable that sufficient material for the plot of a good play.Finally, coming to Shakespeare, he says “He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. He was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacle of books to read literature; he looked inwards and found him there. 

 In restoration era rhymed verse or heroic couplet was generally used as the medium of expression for heroic tragedy. While the great Elizabethan dramatist had used blank verse for their plays. Dryden himself used rhyme for his plays up to ‘ Aurangzeb’ , but the preface to this play he bids farewell to his mistress rhyme , and express  his intention  of turning to blank verse . However in the essay, he has expressed himself strongly in favor of rhyme through the mouth of Neander.

At the end of the essay, Dryden gives one more reasons in favor of rhyme. Rhymes add to the pleasure of poetry, the primary function of poetry is to give delight and rhyme, enable the poet to perform function well.

  Ø Conclusion

Here, in this essay Dryden gives definition of play and gives idea about French drama and English drama. We came to-know about merits and demists of ancients and moderns. The debate between four critic give us many ideas and remove our confusion towards literature.