Samuel Johnson called him father of English criticism. A father in the sense who originated certain things, who propagate in sustained manner before Dryden there is Philip Sidney in the English tradition.
John Dryden was English poet, dramatist, and literary critic who so dominated the literary scene of his day that it came to be known as the Age of Dryden. He is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition upon principles. With Dryden, a new era of criticism began. Before, Dryden, there were only occasional utterances on the critical art. Ben Jonson and Philip Sidney Though Dryden’s criticism was of scattered nature, he paid attention to almost all literary forms and expressed his views on them. Except An Essay of Dramatic Poesy, Dryden wrote no formal treatise on criticism. His critical views are found mostly in the prefaces to his poetical works or to those of others.
Here, i only talk about his ‘An essay on dramatic poesy’. It was published in 1668. In this four speakers ,
Eugenious - Charles Sackville
Crites - sir Robert Howard
Lisideus - sir Charles Sidney
Neander - John Dryden
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 following 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.
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’.
Crites’s arguments in favor of the Ancients :
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.
Eugenius’s arguments on the superiority of the Moderns over the Ancients:
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.
Lisideius view in favor of the superiority of the French drama over the English Drama :
Defending the French Drama and Dramatist, Lisideius says that they far surpass the English and even the Greek dramatists.Corneill and some other French dramatists have so reformed their theatre that no European theatre stands comparison to it. So as far as the three dramatic unities are concerned, the French Dramatists observe them more faithfully than the Greeks themselves who propounded them. In observing the unity of time, they are so scrupulous that the action in some of their plays is limited to only twelve hours. The French are equally faithful in observing the unity of place. Many of them limit to the very spot of ground where the play is supposed to begin.However, none of them exceeds the compass of the same town. Equally conspicuous is the observance of the unity of action. There are under plots in their plays.
Neander’s view in favor of English Drama
Dryden in the person of Neander rises up in defence of English dramatists and strongly pleads that English Dramatist are fully justified in not slavishly accepting the classical principles in many respects. They have developed their own principles and proved themselves to be superior to the Greek and French dramatists in many ways. He favours English drama and has some critical things to say of french drama. 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.
Views on Rhyme in Drama
At the end of the discussion, there is an argument between Crites and Neander over rhyme in plays. Crites believes that Blank Verse as the poetic form nearest to prose is most suitable for drama. On the other hand, Neander defends rhyme as it briefly and clearly explains everything. The boat on which they all were riding reaches its destination, the stairs at Somerset House and the discussion ends without any conclusion being made.
According to Crites rhymed is unnatural in the play
According to Neander literature is all about choseing the words if you chose appropriate word then there is no unnaturality.
Natural word + natural palce = natural sound, that adds tune to the work.
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.
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.
Words count : 1513
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