Dryden's defenses on modern and ancient

M.K.BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

SEM-1

Name : Bhumi V Joshi

Roll No : 3

Enrollment No : PG14101020

Email-id : bhumivjoshi108@gmail.com

Paper Name : Literary Theory/Criticism

Assignment Topic :

Dryden’s defenses on moderns and ancients.

Preface : 


         John Dryden is English poet, dramatistAnd critic who is the most important in literature of the Restoration age. His most important prose work “ Of Dramatic Poesy, An Essay” gives him the reputation as the father of English literary criticism. 

                     

         John Dryden represented the conflicting claims of the two sides as debate among four friends. One of the them favours the ancient over the modern theater. One modernist prefers the French drama where as Dryden himself likes the lifelike drama of English theater to French tragedy, which he considers beautiful lifeless.

Dryden includes the five points in this essay which are as below :

1.   Ancients versus Moderns

2.  Unities

3.  French versus English drama

4.  Separation of tragedy and Comedy versus Tragicomedy

5.  Appropriateness of Rhyme in drama

                   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.

First, we overview the conflict between the ancients and moderns and then we discuss in details separately.

·    Controversy of the ancients and moderns :

                    In the age of Dryden, there is the most important and high raged debate on the comparative merits and demerits of the ancients and moderns. Well-known satire writer Swift treated this debate on his famous work “ THE BATTLE THE BOOKS”. Dryden also gives the argument on behalf moderns through the mouth of ’Eugenius’ one of the four debtors in the essay. 

          The case for the ‘Ancients’ is presented by ‘Crites.’ In controversy Dryden takes no extreme position follows the golden mean, and is sensible enough to give the Ancients their respect. Means… Dryden does not disparage the ancients.

          Through his dispassionate, balanced and sane attitude ; and makes us see clearly the achievement of the Ancients and the indebtedness of the moderns to them as well as significant advances which have been made in modern times. 

(1)    Crites views on The Ancients :

                Crites argues in favor of the ancients because he says that they established the unities –( Time, Place and Action.) dramatic rules were spelled out by  Aristotle which is  still now followed by the current and French playwrights.

                   Crites speaks in defense of Ancients and his argument are as below so, let’s discuss in detail.

1.   The superiority of Ancients is established by the very fact that that the moderns simply imitate them, build on the foundations laid by them. The Ancients are the acknowledge models of the moderns.

                   Ancients are better because they have no models which they follow in giving contribution to literature. Modern playwrights can improve their writing ,seeing the ancient’s work. 

“ Moderns stand on shoulder of Ancients.”

2.   It should be remembered that ,

“ Every age has its own genius, its own inclination for some particular branch of knowledge.”

The ancients had a special genius for drama , and in their particular branch of poetry they could reach perfection. Just as excel them in drama.

3.   Ancients Greece and Rome poetry was more honored than any branch of knowledge. In Ancients poets were rewarded according to their merits. And now days, Moderns are neither suitably honored nor are rewarded.

“ Emulation is the spur of with , and sometimes envy, sometimes admiration, quickens our endeavors.”

          Poet are guided more by malice then by the spirit of virtuous emulation.

4.   The ancients drama is superior because the ancients closely observed nature and faithfully represented in their work. The moderns do not observe and study Nature carefully and so they distort and disfigured her in their plays. No faith to represent in their works.

5.   The Rules of Dramatic Composition- which is not follow by modern dramatist where as Ancients follows all that rules. 

6.   Crites makes special mention of the unities of time, place and action which he says,
 

“Ought to be observed in every regular play.”

          Ancients follow the rules of unities . Ancients have one plot where as modern play does not follow the unities because there are number of actions and sub-plots in the play.

Example:

          The stage is supposed to represent many countries.

In  modern plays have o unities ( time, place action) so it is Unnatural and they can’t be called a ‘just’ and true representation of Nature.

7.   The ancients followed these rules and the effect is satisfying and pleasing.

The ancients could organize their plays well and from this it follows that they must have also written well. We unable to appreciate the art and beauty of their language , only because of many customs , stories, etc are not known to us.

Crites also gives the example of the famous playwright – Ben Jonson who follows the ancients.

          Ben Johnson had great admiration for the ancients ; he imitated them and borrowed heavily from them. He considered them superior to the moderns in all things.


(2) Eugenius views on The Moderns :

            Eugenius favors the moderns over the ancients so he replies to Crites that,

 In the beginning, he believes that the moderns have learned much from the ancients. The moderns are indebted to them for rules of dramatic composition and must be grateful to them for it. The moderns are not followed  with blind way but they excel new things in many ways.  He argues that modernist have model so that they learn from that and gives new ideas from their example.

Because of the greater pains they take, they are nearer to perfection than the Ancients. Their greater labor makes them superior in science as well in poetry. But Crites proves that….

“ The ancients imitated nature more perfectly than the moderns has not established.”

                   Eugenius proceeds to bring out some defeats of the Ancients and some excellencies of the moderns which are as below :

1.   In ancients play , we did not find the division of the play into ‘ACTS’. Some of their plays the chorus sung more than five times so the number of ACTS in a  Greek play is uncertain.

The moderns have perfected this division and divided their plays not only into Acts but also into Scenes. But Spaniards and Greeks wrote without any definite plan and when they could write a good play their success was more a matter of chance and good fortune than of ability.

2.   As far as the plot or fable of the ancients is concerned it lacks originality. Their plot always based on well known story. So their tragedies lacked the charm of novelty. ‘The Pleasure Vanished’ so that one main end of Dramatic poesy in its definition which was to cause ‘delight’ was destroyed.’ The plot of their comedies also lack of originality.

3.   Ancients are inferior to the moderns in all these respects like..

    In characterizations, they no doubt imitate nature but their imitation is only narrow and partial as if they imitated only an eye or a hand and did not dare to venture on the lies of a face , or the proportion of the body.

4.   Even their observance of the three unities of Time , Place, and Action is not perfect. Ancient Crites like Horace and Aristotle make not mention of the unity of Place.

      The Moderns have perfected this division and divided their plays not only into Acts but also into Scenes. The Spaniards and Italians have Excellency plays to their credit, and they divided them into three Acts and not into five.

TERENCE was one of the most regular of the ancient dramatists but even he does nit faithfully observe the unity of Time.

          No doubt they have maintained better than the moderns, the continuity of their scenes but this is so only because they seldom have more than once or two scenes in each “Act.”

“ As their plots are narrow and their characters are few, even their whole Acts are often shorter than individual scenes in the well-wrote modern plays.”

5.   There is too much of narration at the cost of Action. Their play becomes monotonous and tiresome because instead of providing the necessary information, they inform audience through dialogues- monologues.

Example:

Terence in his ‘ EUNUCH and  ADELPHI’ is guilty of the sin.

6.   Ancients plays do not perform one of the function of drama , that of giving delight, nor more that of giving instruction. There is no poetic justice in their plays. In stead of punishing vice and rewarding virtue,  they have often shown a prosperous wickedness and an unhappy piety.

In past, comedies and tragedies were written by separate individuals and not by the same person as at present. They worked in a narrow field and so could easily get perfection in it. And their failure therefore is a proof of their inferiority to the moderns.

7.   Eugeius agrees with Crites that they are not components to judge their language since it is dead, and many of their stories, customs. However ,they have certain glaring faults which can’t be denied. They are often too bold in their metaphors and in their coinages.

8.   Finally, their themes are equally defective. The proper end of the tragedy is to arouse “admiration and concernment”. Their themes are lust cruelty, murder and bloodshed which instead of arousing admiration and pity arouse “ Horror and Terror.” 

   In treatment of Ancients play they are many inferiors to such modern as Shakespeare and Fletcher. In their comedies, no doubt they introduce a few scene of tenderness but then their lovers talk very little. 

                                'No doubt , when the heart is too full , the words are few



   AS their plots are narrow and their characters are few, even their whole Acts are often shorter than individual scenes in the well-wrought modern plays. Their plays do not perform of the function of drama, that of giving delight, nor that of giving instruction. 

“To depict the movement of the soul is the true work of a poet, but the Ancients fail to perform it.” 

          As we discuss , they should not harshly decide against these great men, but preserve to them the dignity of masters, and give that honor which they themselves expect to be paid to them in times to come.

  Dryden’s contribution :

         Eugenius wanted to proceed with the discussion but Crites could not agree with him in the view that,

“ The Moderns were more perfect, but he conceded that they (moderns) have altered the mode of writing.”

Ideas and Values have changed and this accounts for much of the difference between the Ancients and Moderns. It is not a questions of good or bad but of a change in cultural value. 

Example :

“‘Ancients were more hearty’ in their love scene but Moderns are more talkative.”

Had they written in the modern age, they might have altered their ways of writing in keeping with modern values.

       So, as above discussion, we define the controversy between ancients and moderns. And now we discuss the Dryden’s defense on ancients and moderns.

Dryden’s defense on ancients and moderns :     

                             Dryden favors the modern – English plays but does not disparage the ancients. He has some critical things to say of French drama.

“ They are indeed the beauties of a statue, but not of a man.”

                   Dryden criticizes French drama and ancients drama for its smallness because French drama has one plot without sub-plots and due to this tendency the play shows little action, the servile observation of the Unities, dearth of plot and narrowness of imagination are all  qualities which render it inferior to ENGLISH DRAMA. 

In short, English drama has sub-plots; broadness in imagination and unities(rules of Shakespeare). Dryden stands for his criticism of French drama into his reasoning for his preferences for Shakespeare over Ben Jonson.

“ Shakespeare had the largest and most comprehensive soul; while Jonson was the most learned and judicious writer which any theater ever had.”

                   Dryden gives the first priority to Shakespeare because of his greater scope his greater faithfulness to life as compares to Jonson’s relatively small scope and classical tendency to deal in “ the beauties of statue, but not of a man.” He admires Ben Jonson but he loves Shakespeare.

Conclusion : 


  Thus we may conclude that, in Dryden’s work “ Of Dramatic Poesy, An essay’ gives the cliam of the two sides as a debate among four friends. And Dryden himself likes the lifelike drama of  English theater to French  tragedy which he considers beautiful but lifeless.

 Dryden favors the modern English plays but does nit disparage the ancients. At the end  he says that….

“ I admire Jonson a lot but I love Shakespeare.”