THE GROWTH OF ENGLISH POETIC DRAMA

The 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. With the 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, Macbeth and King Lear. No doubt, both the Romantic and the Victorian poets attempted poetic drama during the 19th century. Importantly, Keats, Shelly and Tennyson made a sincere 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 lady Gregory, 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 his verse with its artless simplicity sometimes seems too studied and selfconscious 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 the development of English poetic drama before T. S. Eliot. For, they made a more

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 like Deborah, The End of the World, The Deserter and, 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 success as 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 twofold avoidance of Shakespearian versification and bridging of gulf between the language of poetry and the living speech of the people in the contemporary society.

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 of Everyman. He did not want to write in high style and in the manner of heroic drama. 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 Clerk and 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 mainly on the sound, colour and pomp of verse. His most successful play, A Phoenix

Too Frequent has simplicity and spark of liveliness. As a true poetic drama it is as successful as Eliots Murder in the Cathedral