an essay of dramatic poesy

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An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

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An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

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An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

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About John DrydenGeneral facts about his workThe 3 topicsWork with the text About the criticsQ & A

John Dryden (1631-1700)

- a playwright, a critic, a poet, a satirist and a translator; 1669: Poet Laureate (until 1689);1686: converted to Catholicisma/ Plays: heroic tragedies with superheroes and superheroines eg. The Indian Queen (1664), The Conquest of Granada (1670); All for Love (1678) based on Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra

-- comedies eg. Secret Love (1667), Marriage ala Mode (1672) and The Kind Keeper (1678) -- tragi-comedies eg. The Rival Ladies (1664) and opera-libretti eg.King Arthur, Paradise Lost b/ Criticism: father of English criticism (Dr. Johnson)-- on the versification in drama: blank verse vs. rhyming couplet -- An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668): the theoretical principles on which to construct the new drama that the age demanded; Shakespeares plays are valued high; contemporary French drama is criticized c/ Poetry: neo-classical features: allusions to classical and Biblical works used to refer to contemporary events (and sometimes to highten his satire on them); lofty, heroic style

An Essay of Dramatic Poesy written in 1666 during the closure of the London theaters due to plague

a general defense of drama as a legitimate art form

structured as a dialogue among four friends on the river Thames

an ironic and witty conversation on the subject of poetry

The 3 topics the relative merit of classical drama (upheld by Crites) vs. modern drama (championed by Eugenius);

whether French drama, as Lisideius maintains, is better than English drama ;

whether plays in rhyme are an improvement upon blank verse drama--a proposition that Neander, despite having defended the Elizabethans, now advances against the skeptical Crites.

Work with the text It was that memorable day, in the first Summer of the late War, when our Navy engaged the Dutch: a day wherein the two most mighty and best appointed Fleets which any age had ever seen, disputed the command of the greater half of the Globe, the commerce of Nations, and the riches of the Universe. While these vast floating bodies, on either side, moved against each other in parallel lines, and our Country men, under the happy conduct of his Royal Highness, went breaking, by little and little, into the line of the Enemies; the noise of the Cannon from both Navies reached our ears about the City: so that all men, being alarmed with it, and in a dreadful suspense of the event, which we knew was then deciding, every one went following the sound as his fancy led him; and leaving the Town almost empty, some took towards the Park, some cross the River, others down it; all seeking the noise in the depth of silence. Amongst the rest, it was the fortune of Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius and Neander, to be in company together: three of them persons whom their wit and Quality have made known to all the Town: and whom I have chose to hide under these borrowed names, that they may not suffer by so ill a relation as I am going to make of their discourse.

The critics

1) Eugenius (whose name may mean "well born")--favors the moderns over the ancients, arguing that the moderns exceed the ancients because of having learned and profited from their example.2) 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.3) 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."4) Neander (thought to represent Dryden)--favors the moderns, but does not disparage the ancients. He also favors English drama--and has some critical things to say of French drama

AnswersI. 1. France. 2. classical Greek. 3. action; one; time; place. 4. plots; years; place. 5. Dryden; French.

II.1. naval; Dutch; Thames; English drama.2.Ancients; rules3.Moderns; Aristotle; perfections4. French; classical5. Dryden; lively; French; statue; man; animated

Thank you for watching and listening to our presentation !

Anca Bunescu ( GE-EN)Hurducas Patricia ( GE EN)

Music : The Secular Masque - a Poem by John DrydenSet to Music by William Boyce