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Dryden: An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
156 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1889
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About the author
John Dryden
1,148 books130 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made 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. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made 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. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 8, 2021
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy can be considered to be the first literary criticism book on interpretation of the Ancients' literary criticism fundamentals which contains some notes on contemporary drama as well.
The book narrates the debate between four people. Each two of them are in opposition and concern about a specific realm of drama and poesy.
On one side, there are Crites and Eugenius, whose main debate is on the Ancients vs the Contemporaries. Crites is a defender of the Ancients. He thinks that if Contemporaries want to be great dramatists, they should imitate the Ancients. This is the only way they can be better than the Ancients: "Dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of giants may see farther than the giants themselves." Eugenius, on the other hand, praises the Ancients; but he thinks that they did have defects in their plays and Contemporaries excel them in many points. Some basic interpretation of drama rules which was invented by the Ancients (such as the three unities of time, action, and place) is another topic that is discussed by Crites and Eugenius.
The other side of debate consist of Lisideius and Neander (Considered to be the symbol of the writer by many.) Lisideius is a fan of French drama. He thinks that their works stick to the real drama rules more than the English. He objects mingling comedy with tragedy in plays and considers it as a ridiculous job. Therefore, he cannot tolerate works of Shakespeare, and instead praises the works of Corneille. Neander, as a response to Lisideius, mentions the benefits of mingling mirth with tragedy in plays. He praises English drama and thinks it is far better than that of French. Further, Neander defends English drama from different aspects. For example he says that combining comedy and tragedy is not in opposition with unity of action. Or that it is not necessary for plays to concentrate only on one main character and they can have multiple side characters, which also is not harmful to the play or the three unities.
The final part of the debate is on praising salient English dramatists such as Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Ben Jonson, with a detailed examen of the latter one's work The Silent Woman.
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy is a useful book to understanding the Ancient's fundamentals of criticism and having a better view of what and how they thought. If you feel disappointed to understand Aristotle's Poetics, Horace's Art of Poetry, or Plato's Republic, I suggest you to read this book. It will explain the most part of those works to you in an easy way.
The book narrates the debate between four people. Each two of them are in opposition and concern about a specific realm of drama and poesy.
On one side, there are Crites and Eugenius, whose main debate is on the Ancients vs the Contemporaries. Crites is a defender of the Ancients. He thinks that if Contemporaries want to be great dramatists, they should imitate the Ancients. This is the only way they can be better than the Ancients: "Dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of giants may see farther than the giants themselves." Eugenius, on the other hand, praises the Ancients; but he thinks that they did have defects in their plays and Contemporaries excel them in many points. Some basic interpretation of drama rules which was invented by the Ancients (such as the three unities of time, action, and place) is another topic that is discussed by Crites and Eugenius.
The other side of debate consist of Lisideius and Neander (Considered to be the symbol of the writer by many.) Lisideius is a fan of French drama. He thinks that their works stick to the real drama rules more than the English. He objects mingling comedy with tragedy in plays and considers it as a ridiculous job. Therefore, he cannot tolerate works of Shakespeare, and instead praises the works of Corneille. Neander, as a response to Lisideius, mentions the benefits of mingling mirth with tragedy in plays. He praises English drama and thinks it is far better than that of French. Further, Neander defends English drama from different aspects. For example he says that combining comedy and tragedy is not in opposition with unity of action. Or that it is not necessary for plays to concentrate only on one main character and they can have multiple side characters, which also is not harmful to the play or the three unities.
The final part of the debate is on praising salient English dramatists such as Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Ben Jonson, with a detailed examen of the latter one's work The Silent Woman.
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy is a useful book to understanding the Ancient's fundamentals of criticism and having a better view of what and how they thought. If you feel disappointed to understand Aristotle's Poetics, Horace's Art of Poetry, or Plato's Republic, I suggest you to read this book. It will explain the most part of those works to you in an easy way.
June 5, 2020
puts the dry in dryden
February 21, 2024
Let us consider the background to begin with. There were two major disasters in London --- the great plague of 1665 and the great fire of 1666. As a result of rebuilding after the fire, London, the centre of the English economy and culture, was distorted from a medieval to a modern city.
A new literary class developed which was diligently connected with the growing reading public. A factor which brought the writer closer to the ordinary reader was the growth of coffee houses. These places became centres of brainy discussion between politicians, lawyers, clergymen and other segments of the public.
Pope and Dryden had their choice audiences in coffee-houses. The fluctuations, however, did not affect the sense of connection with the past. Specially after 1688, a sense of health and stability returned to the English social and political scene.
The period between June 1665 and December 1666 was spent by Dryden out of London because of the Great Plague. He was then at Charlton Park, the manor house of the Earl of Berkshire, his father-in-law. As Dryden himself says in the note to the Reader: “The drift of the ensuing discourse was chiefly to vindictee the honour of our English writers, from the censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them".
The Essay of Dramatic Poesy had the Horatian motto conspicuously demonstrated on the title page. The translation is as follows: "I'll play a whetstone's part which makes steels sharp, but of itself cannot cut". This motto announces in unmistakable terms what the general public can and should expect. Practical issues along with theoretical ones should be pondered over and so Dryden's aim was to stimulate thought about them. He also proposed criteria for judging plays as well for writing them because the readers of the Essay at that time were expected to be his audience at the theatre. Dryden did achieve his aim in ways that entertained and convinced those readers.
Few words on the main theme. Five points of discussion emerge from the Essay :-
(a) What are the distinct merits of the ancient and modern poems?
(b) Can the French School of Drama be called superior to that of the English?
(c) Can the Elizabethan dramatists be considered superior to Dryden's contemporaries of the 17th century ?
(d) Do plays acquire more literary worth by strictly adhering to the rules laid down by the ancient writers and critics?
(e) What are the comparative merits of thyming verse and blank verse?
A word on the form of the Essay. Dryden has introduced four persons engaged in a dialogue for the discussion of the topic mentioned above. The four persons are
(1) Crities who defends the ancients. It is evident that Dryden meant his own brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard.
(2) Eugenius. This is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst to whom Dryden dedicated his essay. He is the spokesman for the moderns.
(3) Lisideius: He stands for Sir Charles Sedley. He defends the French Drama and is inclined to believe in the superiority of the French over the English.
(4) Neander: This is Dryden himself. He advocates the superiority of the English over the French and the moderns over the ancients.
No one person states the whole truth. Every speaker makes his own contribution to the discussion. The give and take of views is freely indulged in and the readers are expected to draw their own conclusions.
To conclude, if one were to be fully unbiased in his assessment of Dryden, he’d see that there are many limitations and shortcomings in the art of literary criticism as Dryden developed. He did not deal with ultimate problems of literature. He indulged in lengthy discussions on specific matters of technique and method such as comparative merits of rhyming and blank verse. He took up several points for discussion but not in a methodically developed manner. His casual and personal way of dealing with criticism is utterly opposed to an incisive and searching treatment of elementary issues.
We have to acknowledge that Dryden is sometimes inadequate in the aptitude to explore an idea impartially. His haste at self-justification consumes all his powers of argument. Samuel Johnson, in his ‘Lives of the Poets’, has classified Dryden's critical acumen into two, viz. the didactic and the defensive. Dryden was compelled by force of circumstances to be on the defensive till he reached the pinnacle of glory as a poet and of power as a member of the Governmental machinery for the brief period of ten years.
All said, we’d conclude by observing that to read Dryden's work is, indeed, to have a glimpse into the propensities, idiosyncrasies, and physiognomies of his age. Dryden epitomizes his age quite completely, both as a man and as a writer. As a man, he represents it in his opportunism and convenient changes of opinion and beliefs. But it is as a writer that he reflects the impact of the age on his mind.
In the "chapter of English literary history", as A.C. Ward observes, "which more or less covers the forty years between the Restoration and the opening of the eighteenth century, not only is Dryden's the most conspicuous personality, but there are few literary movements of importance marking the period of which he did not, as if by right divine, assume the leadership, and which did not owe to him most of what vitality they proved to possess."
A new literary class developed which was diligently connected with the growing reading public. A factor which brought the writer closer to the ordinary reader was the growth of coffee houses. These places became centres of brainy discussion between politicians, lawyers, clergymen and other segments of the public.
Pope and Dryden had their choice audiences in coffee-houses. The fluctuations, however, did not affect the sense of connection with the past. Specially after 1688, a sense of health and stability returned to the English social and political scene.
The period between June 1665 and December 1666 was spent by Dryden out of London because of the Great Plague. He was then at Charlton Park, the manor house of the Earl of Berkshire, his father-in-law. As Dryden himself says in the note to the Reader: “The drift of the ensuing discourse was chiefly to vindictee the honour of our English writers, from the censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them".
The Essay of Dramatic Poesy had the Horatian motto conspicuously demonstrated on the title page. The translation is as follows: "I'll play a whetstone's part which makes steels sharp, but of itself cannot cut". This motto announces in unmistakable terms what the general public can and should expect. Practical issues along with theoretical ones should be pondered over and so Dryden's aim was to stimulate thought about them. He also proposed criteria for judging plays as well for writing them because the readers of the Essay at that time were expected to be his audience at the theatre. Dryden did achieve his aim in ways that entertained and convinced those readers.
Few words on the main theme. Five points of discussion emerge from the Essay :-
(a) What are the distinct merits of the ancient and modern poems?
(b) Can the French School of Drama be called superior to that of the English?
(c) Can the Elizabethan dramatists be considered superior to Dryden's contemporaries of the 17th century ?
(d) Do plays acquire more literary worth by strictly adhering to the rules laid down by the ancient writers and critics?
(e) What are the comparative merits of thyming verse and blank verse?
A word on the form of the Essay. Dryden has introduced four persons engaged in a dialogue for the discussion of the topic mentioned above. The four persons are
(1) Crities who defends the ancients. It is evident that Dryden meant his own brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard.
(2) Eugenius. This is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst to whom Dryden dedicated his essay. He is the spokesman for the moderns.
(3) Lisideius: He stands for Sir Charles Sedley. He defends the French Drama and is inclined to believe in the superiority of the French over the English.
(4) Neander: This is Dryden himself. He advocates the superiority of the English over the French and the moderns over the ancients.
No one person states the whole truth. Every speaker makes his own contribution to the discussion. The give and take of views is freely indulged in and the readers are expected to draw their own conclusions.
To conclude, if one were to be fully unbiased in his assessment of Dryden, he’d see that there are many limitations and shortcomings in the art of literary criticism as Dryden developed. He did not deal with ultimate problems of literature. He indulged in lengthy discussions on specific matters of technique and method such as comparative merits of rhyming and blank verse. He took up several points for discussion but not in a methodically developed manner. His casual and personal way of dealing with criticism is utterly opposed to an incisive and searching treatment of elementary issues.
We have to acknowledge that Dryden is sometimes inadequate in the aptitude to explore an idea impartially. His haste at self-justification consumes all his powers of argument. Samuel Johnson, in his ‘Lives of the Poets’, has classified Dryden's critical acumen into two, viz. the didactic and the defensive. Dryden was compelled by force of circumstances to be on the defensive till he reached the pinnacle of glory as a poet and of power as a member of the Governmental machinery for the brief period of ten years.
All said, we’d conclude by observing that to read Dryden's work is, indeed, to have a glimpse into the propensities, idiosyncrasies, and physiognomies of his age. Dryden epitomizes his age quite completely, both as a man and as a writer. As a man, he represents it in his opportunism and convenient changes of opinion and beliefs. But it is as a writer that he reflects the impact of the age on his mind.
In the "chapter of English literary history", as A.C. Ward observes, "which more or less covers the forty years between the Restoration and the opening of the eighteenth century, not only is Dryden's the most conspicuous personality, but there are few literary movements of importance marking the period of which he did not, as if by right divine, assume the leadership, and which did not owe to him most of what vitality they proved to possess."
Read
January 8, 2024Some four are arguing with one another in an open Bazaar circled by numerous curious audiences eyeing them, enjoying their verbal fight, eagerly hoping at any moment a wrestling to break out _
its reading provides such an imaginary visual image.
Dryden has always been in search of a juicy bone of contention to chew and crash, in order that his diseased neural skeleton gets nourishment out of dispute.
There exists people who keep nagging irritatingly.
"Perhaps I have insisted too long on this objection..."
I am glad that he admits it.
Thanks to the Rev Sir TSS.
its reading provides such an imaginary visual image.
Dryden has always been in search of a juicy bone of contention to chew and crash, in order that his diseased neural skeleton gets nourishment out of dispute.
There exists people who keep nagging irritatingly.
"Perhaps I have insisted too long on this objection..."
I am glad that he admits it.
Thanks to the Rev Sir TSS.
March 14, 2026
An essay on drama, following literary debates between Eugenius, Crities, Lysidieus and Neander.
Each debate focuses on a different aspect of drama: Ancient versus Modern; English versus French; and Aristotle's Three Unities of Place, Time and Action.
It was interesting to read Dryden's views on drama and compare it with other notable dramatists like William Shakespeare
Each debate focuses on a different aspect of drama: Ancient versus Modern; English versus French; and Aristotle's Three Unities of Place, Time and Action.
It was interesting to read Dryden's views on drama and compare it with other notable dramatists like William Shakespeare
July 2, 2025
You just made everything up
February 2, 2026
This guy seriously hates the French and dedicated like five pages to why plays shouldn’t rhyme.
Read
January 6, 20196th January, 2018 (12:45am): Spend three days in between in reading "Eunuchus", "Rollo" and "The Silent Woman". All seems useless since taking so long to finish off with a stupid essay.
Text: https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch...
Text: https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2013
Dryden can be incredibly dense, but I did find this to be a fascinating read.
October 14, 2021
Brief, useful.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews