the growth of english poetic drama answer

7/30/2019 The Growth of English Poetic Drama Answer

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THE GROWTH OF ENGLISH POETIC DRAMAThe English poetic drama had its heyday during the Elizabethan age. The

University Wits, in general, and Marlowe and Shakespeare, in particular,

contributed their mite to the growth and development of poetic drama. Withthe tremendous influence of the Renaissance, Marlowe poetised the Elizabethan

drama. He breathed into English drama the life spirit of poetry through his

Mighty line. Shakespeare, the master dramatist, gave a touch of perfection to

the poetic drama especially through his tragedies like Hamlet, Othello,

Macbethand King Lear.

No doubt, both the Romantic and the Victorian poets attempted poetic drama

during the 19th century. Importantly, Keats, Shelly and Tennyson made asincere attempt to revive Shakespearean poetic drama. But, as Mathew Arnold

rightly points out, they lacked the architectonics of drama. Hence their failure

to produce genuine poetic drama which is at once poetic and dramatic.

Poetic drama was revived only at the beginning of the 20th century and

reached a sense of perfection in the hands of T. S. Eliot and Christopher Fry.

English poetic dramatists like Stephen Phillips, John Masefield, John Drinkwater,

Lasceiles Abercrombie and Bottomley and the Irish poetic dramatists like ladyGregory, W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge paved the way for Eliots more creative

and fruitful efforts.

Stephen Phillips was hailed as the saviour of modern poetic drama by some

critics. But other critics like A. C. Ward are of the view that Phillips poetic drama

has little true poetry or true drama.

Masefield experimented widely and adopted many devices of the classical and

thus became one of the pioneers in the revival of modern poetic drama. But hisverse with its artless simplicity sometimes seems too studied and self-

conscious to be dramatically effective.

John Drinkwater entered the dramatic field as a champion of imaginative verse

drama in simple style and brought out the most popular play, Abraham

Lincoln. His plays are remarkable for their human appeal and their intensity of

passion.

Abercrombie and Bottomley have a greater significance in thedevelopment of English poetic drama before T. S. Eliot. For, they made a more


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successful attempt than Masefield and Drinkwater to solve the crucial problem

of the medium appropriate to poetic drama. Abercrombie, in his essay on The

Function of Poetry in Drama, claimed the superiority of poetic drama over the

prose drama. According to him, poetic drama deals with the core and Kernal of

life life intensified whereas prose drama is confined to the eternal shell of

reality. What he professed in theory, he practised in his plays likeDeborah, The

End of the World, The Deserterand, The Phoenix.

Bottomley followed a different line of development of poetic drama by

cultivating the lyrical element in his poetry which resulted in the production of

choral plays like Mid-Summer Eve. His plays, like Shellys and Tagores, are more

lyrical than dramatic, fit not for large audience but for small, interested body of

listeners.W. B. Yeats played a key role in the revival of modern poetic drama

both as a theorist and a practitioner of the democratic craft. Naturally opposed

to the modern commercial theatre, Yeats endeavoured to revive a poetic drama

capable of stirring the heart and liberating the soul with symbolic scenery. In his

crucial essay, The Tragic Theatre, he describes the prose play as an image of the

common, mundane existence, as distinguished from the larger life of poetry

where human nature escapes the limits of time and space.

In his long dramatic career, Yeats went on making experiments. But, as

John Gassner points out, There is always a breach between ambition and

attainment. He deviated from the path he had struck out in his early plays and

adopted the Japanese Noh technique. Its symbolic and allusive nature placed it

beyond the comprehension of the popular audience. Thus, as William Sharp has

justly remarked, Yeatss own views on the public theatre precluded his

successas a dramatist.

It is T. S. Eliot who steadily moved towards the popular theatre to make poetic

drama a source of moral and spiritual uplift of the secular audience. Eliot was

fully convinced of the greatness of poetic drama as well as of the permanent

craving for it implanted in human nature, yet he was equally alive to the great

difficulties lying in the way of its realisation. The problem before him was two-

fold avoidance of Shakespearian versification and bridging of gulf between

the language of poetry and the living speech of the people in the contemporary

society.


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Eliots greatness lies in solving this naughty problem by creating a

poetic drama which is at once poetic and realistic. First of all, Eliot was quite

clear of the nature of poetic drama and its difference from the prose drama. He

rightly observes:

What distinguishes poetic drama from

prosaic drama is a kind of doubleness

in action, as if it took place on two

planes at once.

Eliot emphasises the organic nature of poetic drama, where poetry is not only

an integral part, but is also strictly subordinated to the purposes of the drama.

Avoiding any echo of Shakespeare, Eliot preferred the versification

ofEveryman. He did not want to write in high style and in the manner of heroicdrama. His task was Wordsworthian a return to everyday speech, a shearing

of the decorative pictorial and static elements.

With this aim in view, Eliot set to work and succeeded in discovering a flexible

medium for his first great play, Murder in the Cathedral. Poetry is a prominent

feature in this play, and especially in the choral songs it attains splendour and

stateliness appropriate to the lofty sentiment inherent in the spiritual theme

martyrdom.In his next play, The Family Reunion, Eliot selects a secular story with a

modern setting and characters, dealing with the theme of sin and expiation. Its

verse is flexible and transparent. Yet, poetic passages rich in lyricism and

imagery abound in the play which remains a remarkable poetic composition.

The brilliant handling of poetic drama can also be found in the dramas namely

The Cocktail Party. The Confidential Clerkand The Elder Statesman,

The last poetic dramatist is Christopher Fry, a master of eloquence.

The most remarkable quality of Frys verse is its perfect suitability to the

requirements of the theatre. It is fluent and flowing. It is free from poetic tricks

such as inversion and ellipsis. Above all, it is progressive in movement. It can

come down to colloquial level and then rise to lyrical intensity without the least

trace of strain or effort.

Poetry is the chief motive force of Frys genius. His muse sustains itself ma inly

on the sound, colour and pomp of verse. His most successful play, A Phoenix


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Too Frequenthas simplicity and spark of liveliness. As a true poetic drama it is

as successful as EliotsMurder in the Cathedral

the growth of english poetic drama answer

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