Dryden's Essay On Dramatic Poesy

Literary Criticism,Essay On Dramatic Poesy

1. Mrs. M. Annalakshmi Asst. Professor of English Essay on Dramatic Poesy – John Dryden

2. John Dryden • Dryden was an English poet, critic and playwright from the age of restoration. • Poems like All for Love, Critical essays and prefaces like Essay on Dramatic Poesy, Fables, Of Heroic Plays, Discourse on Satire.

3. Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668) • In this essay Dryden has put forward his criticism on dramatic poetry. • The essay begins with the scene that Four friends, Crites, Neander, Eugenius and Lesidius are sailing to see a navy battle between British and Dutch armies. • These four characters of the essay are thought to have been related with four critics including Dryden himself. • In between, they talk about the poetry which is going to produce after the naval battle.

4. Definition of Play • “A play ought to be a 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.” • In this definition Dryden explains, that drama should be presented as it is, without artificial elements .

5. Debate among four friends • Eugenius (Charles Sackville) • Crites (Sir Robert Howard) • Lisideius (Sir Charles Sedley) • Neander (thought to represent Dryden)

6. Five issues are under discussion in this essay 1)Ancients vs. Moderns 2) Unities 3) French vs. English Drama 4) Separation of Tragedy and Comedy vs. Tragicomedy 5) Appropriateness of Rhyme in Drama

7. Ancient vs Modern 1.Eugenius favours the moderns 2.Crites favours the ancients, blank verse French vs English 3.Lisideius favours French drama 4.Neander favours the modern-English plays

8. Eugenius • Favors the moderns over the ancients, arguing that the moderns exceed the ancients because of having learned and profited from their Example.

9. Crites Argues in favor of the ancients: they established the unities; dramatic rules were spelled out by Aristotle which the current- -and esteemed--French playwrights follow; and Ben Jonson--the greatest English playwright, according to Crites--followed the ancients' example by adhering to the unities.

10. Lisideius • Argues that French drama is superior to English drama, basing this opinion of the French writer's close adherence to the classical separation of comedy and tragedy. For Lisideius "no theater in the world has anything so absurd as the English tragicomedy . . . in two hours and a half, we run through all the fits of Bedlam."

11. Neander • Favors the modern-English plays, but does not disparage the ancients. He also favors English drama--and has some critical things to say of French drama: "those beauties of the French poesy are such as will raise perfection higher where it is, but are not sufficient to give it where it is not: they are indeed the beauties of a statue, but not of a man."

12. Difference FRENCH ENGLISH • Smallness • longer • Pursuit of one plot • Subplots • Little action • More action Narrowness of imagination • Broadness of imagination

13. Rhyme vs. Blank Verse • Crites Says that rhymes seems unnatural in the play, it unfits to carry just and lively image of play. • Neander argues further that it is all about how we select the words, natural words adds more vitality to play –premeditation towards selecting words.