Discuss John Dryden’s Essay on Dramatic Poesy

Discuss  John Dryden’s Essay on Dramatic Poesy..

          Preface:

                   John Dryden was a prominent English Poet, critic, Translator and also playwright who dominated  the literary life of the restoration age and that’s why this age is also known as the age of Dryden. He was a Cambridge scholar , literary terms genius and critic . so Dr. Samuel Johnson quote him as…

“ The father  of English  Criticism ,

Who first taught us to determine

Upon principle the merit of composition  ”

About Dryden’s life

Born                  : 9 August,1631, Northanptoshire, England

Death                :  1 may, 1770,London , England

Occupation       : Poet Laureate, Critic, Dramatist

Education         : At Cambridge university

   Dryden’s  work

• ‘ Prface to the fables’
• ‘ Preface to the Indian emperor’
• ‘ The wild Gallant ’
• ‘ An Essay on Dramatic poesy’
• ‘ All for  Love’

    He was a critic of contemporary reality. His critical observation of contemporary reality is reflected in ‘ Mackfleknoe’ (1682). p mature thoughts of literary criticism on ancient , modern and English literature , especially on drama  are presented  in dialogue from in ‘ An Essay on Dramatic  poesy ’. in this essay there are four speakers each on argues strongly  as which one is better.

“Ancient or Modern ? and French or English? ”

    Here we discuss only ‘An Essay on Dramatic Poesy’ .so let’s discuss in detail .most of his critical interpretation are found in interest in general issue of criticism rather than in close reading of particular texts . Dryden just puts emphasis on the neoclassical rules.

An Introduction of An Essay on Dramatic Poesy

     John Dryden’s An Essay on Dramatic Poesy resents a brief discussion on the Neoclassical theory  of literature. He defends the classical drama saying that it is an imitation of life reflects human nature clearly.

     An Essay on Dramatic poesy is written in the forms of a dialogue among four gentlemen , Eugenius , Crites, Lisideius , Neander(Dryden).

      Eugenius favors modern English dramatists by attacking the classical playwright , who did not themselves always observe the unity of place. But they invited the principles  of Dramatic art paved  by Aristotle and Horace .  Crites opposes rhyme in the plays and argues that though  the modern excel in science,  the ancient  was the true age of poetry. Lisideius defends  the French playwright and attack tendency to mix genres.

 Neander speaks in favor of the moderns and respects the ancients; he is however critical of the rigid rules of dramas and favors rhymes. Neander who is spoke person of Dryden , argue that ‘ Tragic-Comedy’ is the best for play ; because it is closer to life in which emotions  are  highlighted by mirth and sadness . he also find sub plot as an integral part to enrich a play .    finds single action in French dramas to be rather inadequate since it is so often has a narrowing comparing effects.

 Neander speaks and gives his palm to the violation of three unities because it leads to the variety in English plays. Dryden thus  argues against the  neo claasical critics. Since nobody speakes in rhyme in real life , he supports  the use of blank verse in drama and says that the use of rhyme  in serious  plays is justifiable in place of the blank verse.

 So, Dryden holds that  Ancient principles should be respected , but should not be followed blindly.

Dryden’s definition of Drama

 Dryden express his views on drama that what a play should be, therefore  he defines drama as…..

“ Just and lively image of human nature,

Representing it’s passion and humorous ,

And the change 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 just , it is also lively.

 Therefore , Dryden and his three friends talks about  what a play should be  , further Lisideius  convey his views about drama as a just and lively image of human nature , they start to give their views and discuss the advantages  of French and English drama.

Violation of The Three unities  

    Here , the unities of time, place, and action are  concerned . this group discusses  the playwright like Ben Johnson , Moliere and william Shakespeare with a deeper in sight . John Dryden himself also defenses English  tragic  comedy.

 To the view that observe of the unities is justifies on the ground that

• Their  violation result improbability
• That it places too  great a strain on the imagination of the spectators
• That credibility is stretched too far , replies that it is all a question of dramatic  illusion.   

  There is no harm in introducing ‘ subplots ’ for they impart Variety , richness and live  to the play. In this way the writer can present a more just and lively picture than French with their narrow and cramped plays.

Eugenius’s   Argument on the superiority  of the modern over the Ancients

Eugenius put his argument on the superiority of the modern over the ancients . and Eugenius 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 passion.

Crites ‘s Arguments  in favor of the Ancients..

  In this argument he develops the main points in defending the ancients and raises  objections to modern plays . the modern are still imitating the ancients  and using  their forms and subjects, replying on Aristotle and Horace. The third unity that of action , requires  that the play “ aim at one great and complete action  ” but the English have all kind of sub-plots which destroy the unity of the action.

    In anticipating the objection that the ancients language is not as vital as the modern ‘s crites says that we have to remember that we are probably missing a lot of subtitles because the language are dead and the custom as far form this time.

Lisideius ‘s views in favor of the superiority  of the French Drama  over the English Drama

   Lisideius   speaks in favor of the French . he argues that and agrees with  Eugenius that in the last generation the English drama  was superior . had their Johnson, Beaumont and Fletcher , but English drama has decayed and declined . since then they live in an awful age full of bloodshed  and violence, and the poetry is an art of peace . in the present age , it flourished in Frances and  not  in Engrland . the French have no dramatist equal to him .

Neander ‘s views in favor of modern Drama

    Neander’s   views in favor of modern drama based on the definition of the play , Neander suggests that English playwright s  are best at the lively image and imitation of nature . French poesy is beautiful ; it is beautiful like a statue . he even says that the newer French writer are imitating the English playwright one fault in their plots is that the regularity also makes the plays too much alike .

                 He defends the  English invention of  Tragic-Comedy  by suggesting  that the use of mirth tragedy provides contraries that  the set each other off and gives the audience relief from the heaviness of straight  tragedy. While the audience may know that none of them are real, why should they  think  scene of death or battles any less real than the rest? Ultimately  he suggests that it may be there are simply too many rules and often following them creates more absurdities than they prevent .

      Advocacy  of writing  plays I rhyme verse   

 

 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 . rhyme add to the pleasure of poetry , the primary function of poetry is to give delight and rhyme , enable the poet to perform function well.

       To Sum up..

          John Dryden in his essay “ An Essay on Dramatic Poesy ”, gives an account of Neo-classical drama saying that it is an imitation of life, and reflects human nature clearly. He also discusses the three unities, rules that requires  a play to take in one place , during  one day and that it develops  one single actions  or plot. In this way, Dryden ‘s commitment  to the neo-classical tradition is displayed.