Dryden's essay on dramatic Poesy.

Introduction :-

“An Essay of Dramatic Poesy” was probably written in 1666 during the closure of the London theaters due to plague. It can be read as a general defense of drama as a legitimate art form taking up where Sir Philip Sidney’s “Defence of Poesie” left off as well as Dryden’s own defense of his literary practices. The essay is structured as a dialogue among four friends on the river Thames. The four gentlemen, Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius, and Neander. begin an ironic and witty conversation on the subject of poetry, which soon turns into a debate on the virtues of modern and ancient writers. It is how the Dryden structured the book. Now let me discuss about the views of Dryden in the essay, but before that let me give information about Dryden shortly.

John Dryden :-

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John". John Dryden 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. Like 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.

Dryden's essay on dramatic poesy :-

 An Essay of Dramatic Poesy deals with the views of major critics and the tastes of men and women of the time of Dryden.

The work is in the form of semi-drama thus making abstract theories interesting. In the late 17th century, Shakespeare was severely criticised for his careless attitude towards the mixing of genres. It was Dryden who elevated Shakespeare to height for his natural genius.The narrative of An Essay of Dramatic Poesy has four debaters among whom, Neander is the one who holds the views of Dryden. Unlike other characters, Neander does not diminish the arguments that are on contrary to his views. Though he himself favours modern drama, he does not blame others.

Summary :-

The beginning of the narrative An Essay of Dramatic Poesy or Of Dramatic Poesie is as follows. A battle is going on between England and the Netherlands.

Four gentlemen namely Crites, Eugenius, Lisideius and Neander are travelling by boat to see the battle and start a discussion on modern literature. 

Crites opens the discussion by saying that none of his contemporaries (i.e. moderns) can equal the standards and the rules set by ancient Greeks and Romans. Eugenius restrains him from wasting time on finding demerits. He asks him to find relative merit in Greeks and Moderns.

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1) Do you find any difference between Aristotle's definition of Tragedy and Dryden's definition of Play?

Dryden defines Drama as: “Just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the. changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the. delight and instruction of mankind.”

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy is, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear,effecting the proper purgation- catharsis of these and similar emotions.”

Comparison :-

Dryden was influenced by the definition of tragedy by Aristotle. And then he wrote his own new definition. In his definition dryden use the words like "just and lively" image. It means it means the real life. Where eles Aristotle present imagery life. In Aristotle ’s definition the line, ‘Tragedy, then is an imitation of an action’. Which says that tragedy is an imitation not an actual so it is copied. But Dryen wrote that it present real life, not a copied one.

This are the difference between definition of both Dryden and Aristotle.

2) If you are supposed to give your personal predilection, would you be on the side of the Ancient or the Modern? Please give reasons.

I would like to be a side of modern. Because the argument of Dryden that Discussion of ancients and moderns should not be for who is ‘better’. It should be more fundamentally about how history itself functioned and should be read thus it should be about the relationship between past and present humanity and nature and human understanding and knowledge. This is seems quite true. And the argument of him against ancient is also seems understandable.

The morden writers are supposed to be not following the rules of time, action, place. But they only look for entertainment. And according to me entertainment is something much important than rules. Because if the rules are followed but the audience feel no interest and entertainment.

The another thing is ancient dramas are not divided into acts and which makes that play boring sometimes and also a too long play reflect bad vibes. Where eles modern plays are divided into acts, as well as into scenes which make the play short and it gives a Chance to perform it more influential way.

Also as eugenius argued that, ancient have lack of originality, because their plot are always based on well known stories, so the charm of ancient found less than modern.  

Of course, modern are follow ancient in many way. But still they succeeded to creat it's own identity and that's why i would like to favor modern.

(3) What would be your preference so far as poetic or prosaic dialogues are concerned in the play?

I like poetry, because it gives better understanding in much shorter form. And also it is effective because of it's lyrical way of singing. Dialogues sometimes became much long and it turns into boring felling. But poetry is always found lively and melodious.

I also agreed that poetry is sometimes hard to understand, but dialogues are much easier than poetry to understand. So if we see with that view then dialogue are also good.

Conclusion :-

Here i give information of all about Dryden's dramatic poesy and some of the other questions related that.

Words :- 1113

Reference :-

1) poetryfoundation.com

2) eaJournal.org

3) Wikipedia.com

4) Englishsummary.com

5)Alpaponda.blogspot.com

6)bhumijoshi2014-16.blogspot.com

Aristotle's Poetics

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar. Here i am writing a blog as a part of Thinking activity. In this blog i write about Aristotle's Poetics, about Aristotle, some of the text which are follows Aristotle's concepts, and some  texts which are not follows.

Introduction :-

    Before discussing about Aristotelian poetics, it is very important to discuss that what is poetics. According to Oxford Dictionary, poetics is :

"The art of writing poetry."

"Poetics is the study of linguistic technique in poetry and literary."

"Poetics is the theory of literary forms and literary discourse. "

      Meaning of poetics :-

The term poetics derives from the Ancient Greek word poietikos, it means "pertaining to poetry", also "creative" and "productive".In the Western world, the development and evolution of poetics featured three artistic movements concerned with poetical composition:

1)  the formalist,

 (2) the objectivist,

 (3) the Aristotelian. 

  

       During the Romantic era, poetics tended toward expressionism and emphasized the perceiving subject. Twentieth-century poetics returned to the Aristotelian paradigm, followed by trends toward meta-criticality, and the establishment of a contemporary theory of poetics. Eastern poetics developed lyric poetry, rather than the representational mimetic poetry of the Western world.

About Aristotle :-

Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics.

Aristotle's Poetics :-

Aristotle, a greek philosopher wrote a book named 'Poetics', written around 335 B.C. it was a time of classical period. John Dryden said about Aristotle that, "Aristotle is first literary critic." But before him, Plato also used proved as a well known critic. Plato wrote his book called, 'Republic', and in this book he wrote that "All poets are liers".  And to the contrast this concept, Aristotle wrote a book named, 'Poetics'.

   Aristotle believes that criticism means to judge. But creation is must needed, to criticise something. So according to him creation comes first than criticism. Here again he create contrast with his Teacher Plato. In his work Poetics, Aristotle discuss about dramatic theories, poetry, variations in poetry, Tragedy, Plot, Tragic hero, and epic poetry. Mainly in his book Aristotle wrote about three main forms :

1) Epic

2) Tragedy

3) Comedy

   Firstly he wrote about poetry. And qualities and structure of poetry, and also noted that how to divide poetry in various parts. He give one vary famous definition of poetry,

"Poetry is an art of imitation".

  It means all poets are imitators. They imitate the things which they found in the world, in the nature, in the human behavior, and what they feel. They reflects that all in their poetry. And thats why poetry also have it's own importance and also poet have certain kind of importance. They are not liers, wrote Aristotle.

Aristotle in his book divided poetry in various parts like,

1) Epic poetry

2) Tragedy

3) Comedy

4) music Poetry

When it origin, it was divided in two parts :

1) for nobles

2) for means

Mainly the poetry which was written in tragedy, focuses on upperclass or noble people. But Poetry which written in Comic way are quite different. It focuses on middle class people and lower class people. And by thik kind of writing they used to mock on lower and middle class people and they mannerless behaviour. But in tragedy, hero or we can say protagonist must taken from upper, noble class. And the end of this kind of hero creats catharsis among audience. And that's why Aristotle tell that tragedy is superior than comedy. Comedy is shown as a vulgar, trivial thing but tragedy has it's own value.

Aristotle also show difference between Tragedy and epic poetry.

              Tragedy                       

                        

1- Limitations of time.     

2- Complete in Fix time.

3 - no single miter.

4- plot, Character, thought, diction, song and spectacle.

5- written in various forms.

6- show action in dramatic form

7- superior

            Epic poetry

1- no limitations of time.

2- single type of meter.

3- no use of songs and spectacles.

4- not placed in particular place.

5- written in  Hexameter

6- speak in verse narration form.

7- less important than tragedy.

   According to Aristotle, tragedy is superior than Epic comedy and than any other form of poetry. Because its includes Plot, characters, thoughts, diction, songs, and spectacles. Among which plot is most important in tragedy. Because it is only thing which help to create Hamartia. But if we see in epic poetry, it is not use songs and spectacle. And might be because that reason it seems less interesting.

   Tragedy has a limitation of time. But epic poetry is a long poem. Written in hundreds of lines and because of that it is not possible to perform it at one time. So it has no boundaries and time limit. Epic poetry uses single type of meter. But Tragedy use different kind of meters.  Epic poetry should written in Hexameter.and speak in verse narration form. But for tragedy, it is not written in one particular form. It must be written in various forms. Tragedy mainly show action in dramatic form. This how Aristotle differentiate tragedy and Epic poetry.

With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)

And 

With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)

1) Othello

(1) Hamartia :-

Othello was a powerful leader who deeply loved his faithful wife. He was tricked into believing his wife had cheated on him. His suspicion then overpowered him and he murdered his wife in a jealous rage, never even giving her a chance to defend herself. When he discovers he was deceived, he remains a noble character. He realized everything was his own fault and punished himself by committing suicide. In this case, Othello's hamartia, or internal tragic flaw, is his extreme jealousy. It is this jealousy that enables him to be tricked and allows him to create his own destruction.

(2) Catharsis :-

Othello– while at the time it was written, it was considered one of the best examples of catharsis. However, this may not hold true anymore as, given the importance of relatability, context is also very important to catharsis.

At the end of the play, Othello has a catharsis and realises Iago led him astray, and that it was his own trust, naivete, and jealousy that led him to take Desdemona’s life. His tragic flaw was that he blindly trusted a friend. The Elizabethan audience can immediately relate to it, as in Elizabethan era Britain, war and betrayals were all too common and the common folk were used to seeing monarchs and leaders die at the hands of people they believed to be friends. When they watched Othello, they could relate both to the setting and his betrayal immediately.

Othello’s catharsis results in his suicide, and the audience feels his betrayal– realising that trusting a friend blindly can have severe consequences. The audience thus never needs to experience the feeling of betrayal in reality, as Othello’s catharsis has taught them to be more aware. In a way, they are ‘purged’ of the unhealthy feelings that would result from betrayal. For the present day audience, given the setting of the play, Othello may not be as relatable and his catharsis may not necessarily translate into their own catharsis.

This proved the words of Aristotle that time and plot is most important in tragedy.

Tragic hero and tragedy :-

Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Othello also matches Aristotle's ideas of tragic hero because our Othello realizes the error of his ways, causing us to feel sympathy for him. If we carefully examine the third scene in the third act, we can see how Othello fits into Aristotle's definition of tragic hero. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason or consider things with Desdemona logically. Humanity seems to unravel in this scene as we watch Othello experience a myriad of emotions that only push him closer to the proverbial edge. We feel fear, sympathy, and pity as we watch the man transform before our eyes

Not followed Aristotle :-

low the idea of what Aristotle had for the perfect tragedy. Greek tragedies had a musical element that “Othello, the Moor of Venice” lacked.

2) All my sons 

 Peripeteia :- 

Chris sees it as a reminder of his brother, with it standing he cannot live in peace with his fiance, Ann.

Joe ignores the tree because it is a reminder of the son he lost possibly of his own doing. This thing shows peripeteia in 'All my sons.'

Catharsis :- 

All My Sons is the epitome of the modern tragedy. While adhering to the elements of an Aristotelian tragedy, Miller expresses new truth and perspective on the original definition of the tragedy. Miller provides us with the common hero to illustrate that tragedy is found in everyday life. The audience understands that tragedy can exist over a two day period in a small suburban town in America. Tragedy is relative to the human experience rather than the aristocratic experience.

Catharsis according to Aristotle, is a release of emotions, especially pity and fear, at the end of the play. In All my Sons, the audience does develop a sense of pity for the characters and their hardships as well as fear for their futures, but there is no clear catharsis. After Joe dies, Chris is left with a sense of guilt for his father's death and the mother is left grieving for both her dead son and now her dead husband. The audience does not get the satisfaction of releasing their emotions, but is rather left with tension and curiosity.

Tragedy in All my sons :-

All My Sons by Arthur Miller has been argued by many to be a modern tragedy while others claim that his play, All My Sons, cannot be considered a tragedy. However, to truly debate if Miller was able to created a modern tragedy, one must first know what a tragedy is. “Tragedy”, as first coined by Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, is defined as a play that portrays the fall of a good character because of a catastrophic mistake by the protagonist. A true tragedy must also evoke pity and fear in the audience which is called catharsis. A tragedy incorporates a tragic hero which must be the protagonist who is neither entirely good nor pure evil and this tragic hero or protagonist must be consistent and realistic as to relate to the audience. We find fall of good character in All my son. As fall of father of Chris.

But some how we find that it is not totally a Aristotelian tragedy. Because it fails to create catharsis among people.

Conclusion :-

Here we see that Aristotle in his poetics, give a definition of tragedy, definition is “Tragedy,” says Aristotle, “is an imitation [mimēsis] of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [catharsis] of these emotions.” through this definition he give certain rules for tragedy.like importance of Hamartia, Catharsis, Tragedy and end of Tragedy etc. Which we discussed here with reference of several texts.

Words :- 2032

References:-

1) sparksnotes.com

2) Wikipedia.com

3) biography.com

4) 123helpme.com

5) study.com

6) prezi.com