Download CHAPTER TWO THEORIES IN DEFENCE OF POETIC DRAMA AND

CHAPTER TWO
THEORIES IN DEFENCE OF POETIC DRAMA AND
DRAMATIC POETRY
CHAPTER TWO
THEORIES IN DEFENCE OF POETIC DRAMA A1«ID
DRAMATIC POETRY
It can be said that the success and universality of the
ancient drama is due to the fact that poetry has been the
permanent means of dramatic expression from the Greeks through
the Elizabethans for about two thousand years. The greatest
dramatists^ like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Europides and Shakespeare,
were poetic dramatists.
All through these ages, poetry and drama were quite
inseparable. But since the eighteenth centuiry, there has been
an increasing separation between the living stage and poetic
art. As Robert Speaight points out;
For more than three hundred years, ever
since the death of Shakespeare, poetry
and drama have been steadily drifting and
developing apart.1
Both poetry and drama have suffered from this divorce, since
poetry has tended to become academic and drama dismally prosaic.
William Archer in his book. The Old Drama and the New, hails
this separation, saying that the two elements of the old drama,
viz., imitation and lyrical expression at last culminated in
this divorce.
According to him, for lyrical satisfaction people
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attend operas and musical plays, and for interpretation of life
through imitation, they go to the modern realistic plays. But
on the other hand the fact cannot be denied that the emergence of
verse drama in the twentieth century, as a self-conscious
movement, is a reaction against this rigid separation.
It was not until late nineteenth century that a group of
verse dramatists attempted to revive verse diama for the English
stage, searching for a lively form which could ensure a meaningful relationship between content, structure and language, Byron,
Shelley, Tennyson and Swinburne wrote poetic plays; but their
plays were not suitable for being staged.
In fact,attempts of
the verse dramatists of the twentieth century conceal a nostalgia
for the romantic approach amidst the tide of the modern realistic
attitude, for, as Peter Brook says.
a verse play is half-way between prose and
opera, neither spoken nor sung, yet with a
higher charge than prose — higher in 2
content, higher somehow in moral value.
Therefore, it can be said, that the revival of the poetic drama
served a useful pxirpose:
it assisted in the rebirth of the
magical power of the spoken word on the stage.. Simultaneously,
tensions and frustrations of life in the industrial society
encourage flight to a world of fantasy and ronance.
Perhaps,
the romantic spirit is essential to art, and it is our primitive
imagination that provides us with the power and urge of creation
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As the contemporary theatre could not satisfy the playgoer's
desire to break away from the monotonous life, the revival of
verse drama was a breath of fresh air in this atmosphere. Arnold
Hinchliffe in his book. Modern Verse Drama, draws attention to
the fact that.
this present time needs the useful
reminder of verse drama, that words
count as much as scenery or even
directors.3
C. Hassal points out that there are two reasons for the revival
of interest in poetic plays: the prolonged war, which rendered
people more dissatisfied with the mere appearances of things;
and they were bored with the passive enjoyments of the
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realistic theatre.
The validity of verse drama has been challenged by some
critics, and others are not sure whether verse drama would remain
or disappear. Nevertheless, many critics assert that the success
of the poet-dramatists,particularly of writers like T.S. Eliot
and C. Fry is there to stay. For in the hand of such masters it
can not only hold the attention of the audience, but can also
answer to the deepest needs and aspirations of the modern man.
In other words, expressive drama requires a communicative medium
which would bind the characters to the general theme, illustrate
action, and reveal profound ideas.
So, no other means than
dramatic verse is completely satisfactory to meet the exigencies of a
meaningful theatre.
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Poetic drama is not simply imposing poetry on the structure
of the drama;
it is a fusion of the two elements, creating a new
entity. To support this, Eliot reminds critics in his article
"A Dialogue On Dramatic Poetiy";
We should expect a dramatic poet, like
Shakespeare, to write his finest poetry
in his most dramatic scenes. And this
is just what we do find; What makes it
most dramatic is what makes it most
poetic.5
To James Noose-Evans, the experimental theatre should reflect
not the everyday reality but "rather those imitations beyond the
reach of words,"
which is, no doxibt, the field of poetry.
The
illusion of reality created by prose drama is far away from
real life, because it displays what is observed on the surface.
A. MacLeish avers that:
the illusion of the real is indeed
the principal business of poetry.7
MacLeish believes that the underlying reality, which we must
believe to exist behind the surfaces, is "nowhere divulged and
g
nowhere made visible."
Modern realistic stage does not communicate the real vision
man craves to comprehend.
It is for this reason that poetic
drama is more effective in portraying the inner reality.
So,
the duty of the poet is to reveal the vision of the play vividly
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by a verbal texture. MacLeish gives an excellent account of
poetry's task,
"Poetry is not ornament," he says.
it is not flowers, is not the pujtiping up
of language with metaphor, is not a gaudy
embroidered cover drawn across a dirty
fact, ... is not a charm to make the mind
forget,is not a paint, an enamel, a veneer.
Itscjuality is to illuminate from within,
not to describe from without.9
Finally, one should admit that reality of prose is a
deceptive factor, for it is a replica of the conventional
conception of reality:what is true to life and human soul can
be revealed only by dramatic poetry exposing real passions and
unique feelings. Y. Winters states that a play in prose offers
fewer obstacles as regards performance, for the text is closer
to normal speech;
but such a play offers less to the theatre,
for it enjoys the advantages neither of
poetic style on the one hand, nor of
the prose analysis of the novel on the
other; it comes closer to being a mere
scenario, dependent for its success
.Q
upon the mechanical aids of the theatre.
In the Preface to his The Indian Emperor, J. Dryden affirms his
opposition to the use of prose in drama by pointing out that one
great reason why prose is not to be used in serious plays is
because it is too near the natxire of converse. J.L. Styan
affirms that in a poetic play the image in
the audience's mind will be something
wider and yet finer, something enlarged
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and yet more pure than it could be if
it were written in prose.11
Verse, even when it looks "sliced-up prose", can also provide
dramatic punctuation, which helps, as Gassner says, causing the
eye —
and what is more important, the ear — to rest on the
12
word that should be dramatically emphatic.
The stressed or
unstressed syllables produces a pleasure, apart from what verse
says, which makes it more than syncopated prose. Ronald Peacock
in his book. The Art of Drama^ affirms poetry's range of
expression in the following words:
Verse makes available to the material
of specifically dramatic vision the
more highly organised meanings characteristic of poetry generally. It
extends its range of expression over
that available to prose, for a subtle
instrument follows the subtleties of
nature.13
But everything in art, one must admit, being a matter of mutual
assimilation, the extension of meanings through increased poetic
power reacts on the dramatic quality.
Nevertheless, the
greatest plays have been written in verse.
Perhaps their
success could be attributed to the fact that the playwrights
have realized that poetry is a language in depth, language at
its most intense, which makes it an appropriate instrument for
drama at its best. In intense situations, verse allows the
unfolding of feelings and passions more powerfully and
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expressively than prose. As Moody Prior says,
a concern with sentiments and passions,
as aspects of characters, is properly
the work of the poet.14
In poetic drama, the actor has a more particular guide to the
feelings reqxilred.
The tempo of verse lines not only encourages
him In deeper breathing to speak the verse as it has been
composed;
but it also makes both the actor and the author work
in close cooperation with each other. Gassner declares.
Verse, as Eliot and others have noted,
can prove helpful In keeping the actor
and the audience attuned to the harmonies
of true poetry when they appear, as they
should, in climaxes.^^
The harmony of true poetry is due to the rhythm corresponding
both to the psychology of everyday life and the psychology of
poetic creation, just as Peacock says,dancing begins in the
natural overflow of intense feelings, so too does rhythm in
poetry.
Utterances in verse, in other words, have miraculous
properties, for as Bottomley asserts
a sound can be a blow, a sound can
hurt or kill, a sound can bring to
life, a sound can stir the blood, a
sound can paralyse or release.17
In other words, sound has a miraculous effect on our nerves
and spirit. Psychologists now tell us just how the spell works.
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how the rhythm absorbs our attention;
and how the reiteration
of rhythmical sounds stimulates and also relaxes the nervous
system.
Norris Haughton asserts that in the greatest drama
the painful moments are assuaged by sublime poetry; and moments
of highest passion and rapture evoke the mightiest melody.18
Verse can not only rise to intense pitch of feeling; but it can
also suggest more than it explicitly says.
One may grasp this
point by juxtaposing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with John
Van Diruten's The Voice of the Turtle. The scene is the first
confrontation of the lovers. As Juliet appears on the
balcony, Romeo says:
But soft'. What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun'.
Arise fair sun; and kill the envious moon.
Who is already sick and pale with grief,...
It is my lady; 0, it is my love'.19
When Van Druten's Romeo meets his Juliet, they express
themselves thus:
-
Sally, this is Bill Page, Sally Middleton
How do you do?
How do you do?
May I take your things?
(She takes his cap and overcoat and puts them on the
desk).
- Thanks.
- Scotch?
- I will.20
In the light of such passages, the views of critics like David
Jones, who assert that poetry in the theatre is only an extra
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dimension, appear to be lacking in validity, for it is essential
to its spirit and
the chief means of revealing deeper levels of
thought and feeling.
To sura up, one may safely infer that the figurative
language of verse plays a crucial role in the success of drama
since it has a magical force and extraordinary power.
The
rhythm of poetry in drama is a spellbinding drive lulling our
minds, affecting our nerves, and making a psychological
impression on our spirit.
Now we turn to the individual opinions and critical theories
of the modem poet-dramatists like Yeasts, ;s.bercrombie, BottcMnley,
Eliot, and Fry, for they provide a
most powerful defence of
verse drama and dramatic poetry.
W.B. Yeats's Theoxry of Dramatic Poetry :
Yeats is one of the
greatest modem Irish dramatists who
was one of the first writers to revive verse drama and as such
his critical theories provide a trustworthy evidence both of
the achievement of poetic drama and the difficulties facing the
modem verse dramatist.
On account of his poetic tendency,Yeats considered realism
in the theatre an irksome bondage;
h\jman soul,
and to probe deeper into the
he abandoned realistic presentation
confined himself to legends and fantasy,
of life and
p. Thouless asserts
that Yeats's aim was not the possivity of the intellect,
but
the state of trance in which visions of the beauty of the sensory
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world combine with the shadowy life of legend,
21
ensures a
deeper approach to reality.
In his theory of the dramatic poetry, he refuted the opinion
that "poetry is a criticism of life". Yeats believed that
poetry is the revelation of a hidden life.
So, the theatre
interested him, not as a fonom, but as a temple for mystic beauty,
and as an auditorium for spoken poetry.
His belief in
the
theatre as the vehicle of poetry inspired him to work with
endless patience.
The driving force of his dramatic theory was his nationalism,
He is preoccupied mainly with two things:
people and their speech;
the life of the Irish
and the Irish legend and folklore. He
believes that the elaborate design of dramatic poetry is
expressively embodied in the pastoral primitivism. As R.Williams
puts it:
He saw his opportunity, not in the interest
of a democratic abstraction, but in the
existence of a living and organic society
of Irish peasantry.22
In fact, Yeat's contribution was not only in the consolidation of a national theory, but in the creation of a genuine
dramatic poetry —
in the re-marriage of drarna and poetry.
For
achieving his objective he avoided the nineteenth century
tradition of poetic drama as it was more or less divorced from
the living stage.
Instead, he created a new tradition of modem
verse drama which was rooted in legend and history.
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In some of his plays, Yeats combined prose and poetry; but
ultimately he abandoned this practice in the interest of deeper
communication.
In his Preface to the Collected Plays, he asserts;
It is not difficult to construct a fairly
vigorous prose play, and then... decorate
it with poetry. But a play of that kind
will never move us poetically because it
does not uncover... that high intellectual,
delicately organised soul of man and of an
action, that may not speak aloud if it does
not speak in verse.23
In short, both Yeats's theories of poetic drama and his
contribution as a poet-dramatist stimulated and encouraged several
writers, and went a long way in reviving modem poetic drama,
particularly in Ireland.
L. Abercrombie, a prcaninent poet-dramatist of early
twentieth century, evolved his dramatic theory in which he was
inspired by Shakespeare.
He, in his article "The Drama of
J. Drinkwater", states that the burden of the entire play falls
on language expressed through the "dramatis personae", and the
more explicit expression the more clear the action on the stage
turns out to be.
Therefore, language should be "suited to drama,
... language in the highest degree, that is to say poetry."24
Abercrombie*s poetic language, as it is seen in The Staircase
(1913) is based on the music of common speech of rustic life.
As an opponent of prose in drama, he asserts that poetic drama
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can evoke the deepest feelings of joy and ecstasy. "Characters
in a play"# he says.
who can speak poetry naturally and
inevitably are characters who have
in them all the splendour and vigour
of life we can imagine,25
He fxorther points out in his book The Theory of Poetry, that
colloquialism is full of rapid shades
and gleams, and "the expressive irregularities
and careless experiments of conversation, "26
He calls this ordinary speech as "savage converse", as a
contrast to the civilized talk.
He insists that this "savage"
speech flowers quite naturally into a sort of raw poetry
because it is a series of vivid and concrete images, and what
the "savage" can give in a single word, the civilized must
build up in a phrase of several words, 27
Abercrombie concludes his theory by affirming that the
poetic language embraces a wider range of expression than
prose;
but, according to him, dramatic poerty is in danger
of becoming stilted when poets are afraid of being colloquial
in the language they employ,
G. Bottomley, another poet-dramatist of early twentieth
century advocated dramatic verse both for its musicality and
its greater expressiveness in the theatre.
In his book, A Stage
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For Poetry/ he points out that if poetry is perfectly spoken
in a play, nmch of the action would be in the voice.28 He also
claims that poetic drama has two great advantages.
Firsts it
has a greater degree of freedom arising frcm the absence of
realism, and second, it can dispense with
29
of the modem realistic theatre.
expensive equipment
Bottomley's poetic plays wre attacked for being void of
action;
but the absence of the physical action in them accords
with his theories of verse drama, according to which, dramatic
verse itself is a kind of action, for it has an element of
surprise and novelty.
He further claims that the imagery and
reverberations of verse also stimulate the attention.
In his later poetic plays he employs the new technique of
contemporary speech rhythms. He justifies this practice in one
of his essays in the following words:
I conceive that if poetry is to regain
its right of entry to the theatre, it
must learn again to base itself upon
contemporary speech rhythms... that is
a contemporary sound,30
In other words, according to him, the contemporary rhythms of
sound can pave the way for the revival of poetic drama since
it would train both speakers and auditors to appreciate the
value of melodic utterance.
In short, Bottomley is fully committed to his theory of
poetic drama which he propounded in his book, A Stage for Poetry,
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and according to which poetry would live in the theatre
provided its practitioners are willing to experiment and
refine their technique constantly.
_'- T.S. Eliot's Theory of Poetic Drama
Eliot is both a lyricist and a dramatic poet like
Yeats.
But unlike Yeats, who began his dramatic work in
a conventional form, and moved towards an experimental form
of verse drama, Eliot.
D, Gerstenberger says that
he
began with the unique and experimental and moved towards an
increasingly conventional presentation of verse drama. 31
Eliot also wrote a considerable number of critical works on
the possibilities of poetic drama.
These critical writings
include The Four Elizabethan Dramatists,
Dramatic Poetry,
Drama.
A Dialogue on
Rhetoric and Poetic Drama, and Ppetry and
In these essays his convention is that poetic drama
is possible in our modern age. He does not agree with Chalres
Lamb who made a plea for the separation of drama from poetry.
Eliot thinks that such a separation is harmful for both. In
his opinion, poetry is the natural language of man in moments
of highest emotional excitements, and as such it is appropriate
to drama. But poetry used in drama must be dramatically
inevitable, since such poetry can be enjoyed by the audience
and yet it raises the drama above the level of mere
entertainment.
53
Eliot objects not only to realistic prose on the
stage, but also to plays of realistic content, representing
social life. In other words, Eliot not only opposes the
realism in the language and diction of drama, but also
<s.tands against realism in its themes. In his opinion, drama
J
which seeks merely to portray the problems of social life
cannot be regarded as a great work of art.
In his lecture on Milton, Eliot declares that poetry
should help not only to refine the language of the time but
also to prevent it from changing too rapidly.
In his opinion,
one of the ways out would be that the language is always in
action, not on the pulpit^
but in the theatre
for a replica of the society,
which stands
Eliot points out;
The ideal medium for poetry, .... and
the most direct me^ins of social usefulness for poetry, is the theatre
where the pleasures of poetry could
be conveyed to larger groups of people
collectively,32
In another place, he emphasises that the lyrical verse is
the basis of drama, not just one of the tools which may be
utilized by the playwrights as an expressive device.
But
he says that as the contemporary audiences have been conditioned
to prose drama, poetic drama would become acceptable only when
it comes from the pen of those who have already made their
mark as poets.
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Eliot is a pioneer poet~dramatist in his attempts at
finding the basis for a poetic tradition of contemporary
drama.
He is in favour of abandoning Shakespearean
tradition, for he believes that imitation cannot result in
a genuine work of art. He conveys this warning of his in
a radio talk saying:
The problem for us, therefore is to get
away from Shakespeare ... that is not
so easy. I have found, in trying to
write dramatic verse ... whenever my
attention has relaxed, I have been writing
bad Shakespearean blank verse,33
Another point, though Eliot does not mention it^is that a
form which has been perfected by one age cannot be copied
exactly by the writers of another age. It belongs to its
own age.
So, in his own work, Eliot evolved a dramatic verse
which has a different flavour, and for that very reason, was
effective on the modern stage. He further elaborates his
point in his lecture.
The Three Voices of Poetry, saying:
We should aim at a form of verse in which
everything can be said that has to be said
but if our verse is to have so wide a range
that it can say anything that has to be
said, it follows that it will not be poetry
all the time. It will only be poetry when
the dramatic situation has reached such a
point of intensity that poetry becomes the
natural dramatic utterance... in which the
emotions can be expressed at all.33
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We may now turn to Eliot's main arguments in favour of
verse drama. He points out that the tendency of prose
drama is to emphasize the ephemeral and the superficial. He
says that if one wants to get at the permanent and universal
he tends to express himself in verse.34 Coleridge
affirms that.
depth/ concentration and unity in the
drama can be better achieved in a verse
play than prose because of the nature of
poetic expression.35
In other words, if verse fails to give richness and unity,
it fails in its very purpose. This view of the role of
poetry in drama finds its echo in Eliot's pronouncement:
The poetic drama must
unity... it must have
and if this be strong
hetrogeneous ^notions
reinforce it.36
have an emotional
a dominant tone;
enough, the most
may be made to
He adds that poetry should help us to penetrate beneath the
surface of reality:
It is a function of art to give us some
perception of an order in life by imposing
an order upon it.37
Moreover, as pointed above, he asserts that poetry should
serve a dramatic purpose. In his "Dialogue on Dramatic
Poetry", one of the characters says of Shakespear's dramatic
verse:
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What makes it most dramatic is what
makes it most poetic. No one even
points to certain plays of Shakespeare
as being the most poetic and to other
plays as being the most dramatic. The
same plays are the most poetic and the
most dramatic.38
As a matter of fact* Eliot's whole theory centres round
the nature of dramatic speech. In defence of verse, he asserts;
People have tended to think of verse as
a restriction on drama. They think that
the emotional range, and the realistic
truth of drama is limited and circumscribed
by verse. Only prose can correspond to
actuality. But is not every dramatic
representation artificial? And are not we
merely deceiving ourselves when we aim at
greater realism? I say that prose drama
is merely a slight by-product of verse
drama. The human soul expresses itself
in verse.39
He further affirms that dramatic poetry must be simple and
clear on the surface and be simply relevant to the action,
but it should also have depth which can only be penetrated
by the reader who studies it.
"For the simplest auditors",
he says,
there is the plot, for the more literary,
the words and phrasing, for the more
musically sensitive, the rhythm;
and for
the auditors of great sensitiveness and
understanding, a meaning, which reveals
itself gradually.40
Eliot's theory of dramatic poetry can be safely sximmarised
in the following points:
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1.
The greatest drama is poetic drama.
2.
Far from being a limitation on the theatre, verse
is the true expressive language of drama.
3.
Dramatic poetry has a deeper intensity of expression
than prose in the theatre.
4.
Prose is just as "unreal" as verse, and just as far
from everyday speech.
5.
Verse is superior to prose as more expressive
language not only because it can penetrate and
provide richness, but also because it can give a
play greater unity of action, emotion and mood.
6.
The modern theatre suffers from undramatic poets,
and unpoetic dramatists.
7.
Three reasons are suggested for the lack of modern
poetic drama:
8.
a)
The lack of an effective tradition.
b)
The improbability of a nation producing
two great perioes of drama.
c)
The existence of realism in the theatre.
A new dramatic verse is required which would be
flexible and "transparent" enough to be close to
prose, and would meet the modern audiences on
their own ground.
To sum up, Eliot's defence of poetic drama is based
particularly on the greater flexibility and higher communicability of dramatic poetry.
At its most intense, he asserts,
dramatic poetry approximates to music, for it imposes order
on human actions and
and music.
feelings.
This order is both of poetry
Eliot avers that poetic drama "brings us to' a
condition of serenity, stillness, and reconciliation."
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Thus Eliot has a well-reasoned theory regarding the
nature, function and possibilities of poetic drama in our age
Fry's Theory of Poetic Drama
Fry's poetic plays are not imitations of Elizabethan
verse drama;
they are rather responses to the twentieth
century need for a new realism appealing to the modern
sensibility.
On the other hand, he felt that the realistic
theatre, dominated by imitators of Ibsen's social problem
plays, must be either amplified or replaced by an appropriate
poetic theatre which could communicate at a deeper level. He
insists that prose has lost touch with reality, and the
realistic play is not realistic at all, but just a slice of
existence. In an article of
his. Fry emphasises:
Writing a realistic play is like meeting
a hximan being for the first time. The
realist would observe that this is Mr.
so-and-so, that he has a beard and a mole
on his face. But the human being is far
more peculiar, ... summed up in the
strange sort of mysterious creature that
stands before us. 41
Rejecting the "surface realism" of the prose play. Fry attempts
at finding a suitable foinm of language for drama, for according
to him, certain experiences can be better expressed by poetry
than by prose.
"No event",
observes Fry,
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is understandable in a prose sense alone.
Its eventual meaning... is a poetic meaning.^^
In his attempt to create a viable verse drama which could
suit the stage in all its dimensions. Fry is, in fact, echoing
the message of Eliot to restore the rightful position to the
verse drama in the modern theatre. He believes that
a verse play is not a prose play which
happens to be written in verse. It has
its own nature... The dramatist must
view the world of his play and the people
of that world with great precision. 43
He wants a particular kind of verse drama in which structure,
symbols, and verse are mutually connected.
In such a piece,
the audience would listen carefully to the verse, and consequently would be oriented to accept verse as a reasonable
substitute for prose in contemporary theatre. In an article.
Pry clarifies that in his verse drama he is not concerned
with the superficial themes but with reality, experiences,
and perceptions, that are deep-rooted in hximan psyche.44 And
again, he insists in his article, "Why Verse?", that there is
another kind of realism, which is far more realistic. To attain
this "reality", he uses all the traditional methods for overcoming the false realistic presentation by employing a dazzling
language of figurative speech. He reveals his prejudice against
the "impotent prose".
"In prose," he claims.
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we convey the eccentricity of things; in
poetry, their concentricity, the sense of
relationship between them. 45
The new realism of his plays concentrates on the underlying
significance expressed by verse, for he believes, that
what we call reality is a false god, the
dull eye of custom... but the truth, surely,
the greater reality is the province of
poetry.46
Therefore, in Firy's opinion, the pursuit of poetry is "an
apprehension of truth beyond the power of rational thought".47
Henceforth, he concludes, that;
in exploring and recreating life in terms
of the stage, we should use languages fully
charged and as pliant as we can make it.^®
Thus, to restore the poetic vision of life. Fry's poetic drama
employs moving poetry and lively stage technique, and thus,
action and poetry are fused together.
They are inseparable,
for "the poetry is the action, and the action is the figure
49
of poetry."
AS Derek Stanford says:
In Fry, then, poetry and drama are not at
war; the first diminishing the sense of
situation, the second detracting from the
beauties of speech.50
One may deduce that Fry wants a theatre where man and
events turn round an old truth;
not the everyday life of the
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people, iaut the poetic truth.
In a letter. Fry expresses the
span of the old truth thus:
The use of verse in the modern theatre...
comes, I think from a certain spiritual
searching which is part of our troubled
times.51
So, Fry's old truth is indeed the mysterious world of hximan
psyche.
This reality, he thinks, enables man to enjoy the
miracle of life,by exploring its inner dimension.
Thus, his
theory denotes that dramatic poetry is as natural as our senses
Fry says:
Poetry is the language in which man explores
his own amazement. It is the language in
which he says heaven and earth in one word...
It has the virtue of being able to say twice
as much as prose in half the time... We can
say that poetry is the language of reality.52
In an interview with the reporter of The Nevj York Times, Fry's
theory of the dramatic poetry is further elaborated:
I lay the acceptance of poetry in the
theatre to two things. One is that reaction
to the long hold of surface realism. The
other is that... poetry provides something
people lack and wish for, a richness and
reaffirmation.53
It would not be out of place to point out that his
practical proficiency in the theatre is, perhaps, the reason
62
why he avoids extreme positions taken by Eliot and Yeats,
who are primarily poets*
V, Sherry points out:
The dramatic theory and practice of
C.Fry's represents a mid point in the
twentieth century verse drama, betv;een (..
extremes represented by Eliot and Yeats.
But Fry is conscious of the decline of poetry in a chaotic
world dominated by the anti-romantic people who are absorbed
in topicalities "which are acting", as Cecil Day Lewis
//
says,
55
upon the mind to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor."
Modern people in such, a state of lulled consciousness need
a motive which would shake their torpor and compel them to
listen to the melodic sound of verse. Fry has always
emphasised that the language of the common people, however
brilliantly recorded, is not sufficient for the imaginative
theatre.56 While Eliot and some other poet-dramatists have
attempted juxtaposition of verse and prose in the theatre.
Fry approaches it in a much bolder manner. He seems to be
modifying or even correcting the position held by Eliot, as
G. Bullough asserts:
In theatrical ease, lightness of touch,
general attitude to life. Fry's works
seemed at first sight a revolt against
Mr. Eliot's own.57
Fry avers
that the powerful dramatic poetry is the only possible
vehicle for the presentation of human's instinct, and the
63
mystery of the universe.
According to his tenet, the theatre
would be too poor without poetry to express man's true emotions.
58
In other words. Fry seems to share Wordsworth's experience
that poetry is something "felt in the blood, and felt along
in the heart".59 This emphasis on feeling, which is the main
aspect of Fry's theory, is also maintained by A. Hinchliffe
in his book. Modern Verse Drama;
Apart from the utilitarian question of
language, I believe the need for poetry
is an essential part of the human
condition.60
To sum up
Fry proved, that poetry need not have an
isolated existence in printed poems,
but it can also be
brought to life by actors on the stage, and this type of
poetry is the differentia of modern poetic drama.
In this
uncomprondsing attitude in his theory of the dramatic poetry.
Fry stands aloof from other poet-dramatists.
As a conclusion to the defence of poetic drama by outstanding poet-dramatists, let us admit that in spite of the
successjEul revival of the verse drama, its opponents claim
that whatever efforts might have been exerted in this direction,
the last word must be in favour of prose. Kenneth Tynan
reminds us that it has taken a long time to make prose respectable
in the theatre, and it has extensive potentialities, for "prose
is the most flexible weapon the stage has ever had, and still
64
60
shining new."
And no doubt, it is true that prose can also
provide concentrated action and subtle insights as the works
of Ibsen, Shaw, Chekhov, and other masters of modern drama
have proved. But in view of the function of the verse on the
stage, its vivid influence on the audience, and facilities
provided both to the author and the actor, we can say that
poetry is a more impressive medium for the stage.
As Abercrombie
points out:
I shall only enquire whether the assumption
that prose is the natural and straightforwarded
medium for a play be not profoundly mistaken;
whether, on the contrary, it be not poetry
that is the natural and straightforwarded
medium.62
And Eliot affirms that the dramatist who is not a poet
much the less a dramatist.
is so
And H,. Read says that in English,
only the use of verse on the stage can elevate it to the level
of a serious novel for which prose is the natural medium.
Against these positive views in favour of verse drama,
some of the modern dramatists and critics assert the superior
claims of realistic prose drama.
P. Thouless, an advocate of
realism in the theatre, points out in her book. Modern Poetic
Drama, that the writer of realistic drama tries to bring
together the various threads of life, to make the connection
between the stage world and our own a close one.65 But it can
be asserted, that the "threads of life" could be brought together
65
without realistic prose, for acute and expressive language is
the indespensable constituent of the poetic dramaturgy.
S. Spender asserts:
Poetry is naturally a dramatic medium, and
drama naturally poetic. Most poems are
statements made within an impled dramatic
situation, by a speaking voice... within a
poem itself, there is a system of relationships between rhymes and patterns of rhythm,
which resemble dialogue. So, a poem in many
ways, is like a play in miniature.66
Thouless sums up her negative point of view claiming that
it is the wish of the poet-dramatist not to bring his characters
close to us, not to impress upon us the concrete realities of
the world,
but to distance us from them.
It deprives us from
67
the pleasure of seeing a replica of it on the stage.
The
motive of the modern verse-dramatist,to be sure, is that he
honestly employs verse not "to rouse in us unfamiliar associations";
but he wishes by traditional methods to make us feel
the reality of profound inner life in a series of harmonious
actions on the stage.
Coming to a moderate compromise, one may claim that modern
theatre is not only a free field for realistic tendency.
should cater to all tastes in order to produce a desired
equilibrium.
Hunter in a letter supports this point:
In a live and healthy theatre, there should
be room for everything; the open stage and
the proscenium, the play of commitment and
It
66
the frivolous force, realistic tragedies,
comedies, historical and pastoral drama.68
In other words, if we believe in the dictum that variety is
the spice of life, it seems quite true that the theatre should
conform to the tastes of society it reflects.
On the other
hand, it is undeniable that man cannot separate his passion
from his mind, and it is not possible to eliminate the instinctive
inclination towards romanticism, which only poetry can satisfy.
To press home an argument, if one accepts the idea that
we are in a period dominated by realistic drama, then it
follows that perhaps in a way the poet-dramatists are wasting
their energies in rebelling against prose and asserting the
superemacy of poetic drama. But on the other hand, greater
interest evident in figurative language, experimental styles,
and sophisticated forms employed by several contemporary prose
dramatists indicates a revival of the poetic approach in prose
drama itself which in a way justifies the arguments of the
poet-dramatists in favour of poetic drama.
67
NOTES
1
Robert Speaight, Drama Since 1939, Longmans and
Co., Ltd., London, 1947, p.33.
2
Peter Brook, The Empty Space, Penguin Books, London,
1968, p.43.
3
Arnold Hinchliffe. Modern Verse Drama, Methuen,
London, 1977, p.75.
4
C, Hassal.
"Notes On Verse Drama", in : Masquee
No,6m The Curtain Press, London, 1948, p. 3.
5
T.S. Eliot. "A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry", in :
Selected Essays, Faber and Faber, London,
1939, 38-39.
6
Quoted, Arnold Hinchliffe, Op, cit., p, 11.
7
A MacLeish, "The Poet As Playwright", in i Atlantic,
195, February, 1955, p,54,
8
A MacLeish, "A Stage For Poetry", in: A Time To Speak,
Paston, 1941, p.79,
9
A MacLeish. "A Stage For Poetry", Op.cit., p.80-81.
10
Y. Winters. "Problems of the Modern Critics of Literature",
in: Hudson Review, Vol. IX, 13 Autumn, 1956, p.359,
11
J.L, Styan, The Elements of Drama, Cambridge Univ.
Press, Cambridge, 1960, p.31.
12
J. Gassner, Directions in Modern Theatre and Drama, Holt,
Rinbhart and Winston, E n c , Chicago, 1965,
p. 75.
68
13
R. Peacock, The Art of Drama« Routelege and Kegan
Paul, London, 1957, p. 225.
14
Moody Prior. "Poetic Draka; An Analysis and
Suggestions", in : English Institute Essays,
N.J., 1959, p. 14.
15
J. Gassner, O^. cit.,p. 75.
16
R. Peacock.
17
G. Bottomley, A Stage for Poetry; My Purposes With
My Plays, Titus Wilso n & Son, Ltd., Kendal,
1948, p. 13.
18
N. Haughtoni The Exploring Stage. (Introduction),
Weighbright and Tallen, N.Y., 1973, p. 104.
19
W. Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II,
Buchers and Son, London, 1881, p. 403.
20
V. Druten. The Voice of the Turtle, Eyre Metheuen
& Co., London, 1975, p. 82.
21
P. Thouless. Modem Poetic Drama, Black Well, Oxford,
1969, p. 139.
22
R. Williams. Drama From Ibsen to Eliot,
London, 1967, p. 225.
23
W.B. Yeats.
24
L. Abercrombie, "The Drama of J. Drinkwater", in:
Four Decades, 1 (1977), pp. 273-274.
25
L. Abercrombie. "The Function of Poetry in Drama,"
in: Poetry Review, 1 (1912), London, p. 167.
Oj2. cit., p. 226.
Collected Plays. Dublin
Penguin Books,
U.P., 1965, p.7.
69
26
L, Abercrombie. The Theory of Poetry, Martin Seeker,
Ltd., London, 1926, p.142.
27
Ibid., p.143.
28
C. Bottomley. A Stage For Poetry,
Kindal, 1959, p.19.
29
G. Bottomley. "Poetry and the Contemporary Theatre",
in: Essays and Studies, XIX, Oxford, 1934,
p. 166.
30
Ibid., p. 145.
31
D, Gerstenberger. "The Complex Configuration: Modem
Verse Drama", in: Poetic Drama, Salzbury Univ.
press, 1973, p.41.
32
T.S. Eliot. The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism,
Faber & Faber, London, 1933, p.153.
33
T.S. Eliot. Selected Prose, edited by Supra, London,
1947, p.84.
34
T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood, Faber & Faber, London,
1920, p.42.
35
S.T. Coleridge. Biographia Literaria, Chapter 18,
Cambridge University Press, 1960, p.250.
36
T.S.Eliot. "Phillips Messenger", in: Selected Essays,
Faber & Faber, London, 1955, p.214.
37
Introduction to G. Wilson Knight. The Wheel of Fire,
Oxford Univ. Press, 1930, p.IV.
Winston Press,
70
38
T.S. Eliot. "A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry", in:
Selected Essays, Paber & Paber, London. p,43.
39
Ibid., p. 64.
40
T.S. Eliot. Poetry and Draroa, Paber & Faber, London,
1960, p.82.
41
Quoted. D. Gerstenberger, 0£. cit., p. 98.
42
c. Pry.
43
C. Fry.
44
C. Pry. "How Lost, How Amazed, How miraculous We Arel",
"Why Verse?", in: Vogue, CXXV, (March 1, 1955),
p. 162.
"Why Verse?", O2. cit., p.102.
in: Theatre Art, August 23, 1962, p.73.
45
C. Pry.
"Why Verse?" ©£. cit., p. 137.
46
47
Quoted. W. Arrowsmith. "English Verse Drama: C.Fry",
in: The Hudson Review, vol. Ill, Suimier, 1950,
p. 208.
C. Fry. "Why Verse?", Op.cit., p.37.
48
C. Pry.
"The Author Explains", in: World Report, IV
(June, 1949), p.332.
49
C. Pry,
"Poetry in the Theatre", in: Saturday Review,
XXXVI (March 21, 1953), pp. 26-27.
50
D. Stanford. C. Pry: An Appreciation, Peter Nevil,
London, 1955, p. 48.
51
Fry's l e t t e r t o M.P. Sangal, Published in his thesis
"C. Fry and T.S. E l i o t " , sutanitted to Agra
university, 1966, p.127.
71
52
C. Pry,
"The Author Explains", Og, clt., p.331.
53
C. Fry,
"Poetry in the Theatre", Op.cit,, p.18.
54
R.C. Sherry, "A Certain Apparent Irrelevance: Genre,
Theme, and Technique in the Drama of C. Pry",
in: D.A.I., Brown University Press, Chicago,
1968, P.293-A.
55
C D . Lewis. A Hope Por Petry,
Press, 1935, p.14.
56
C. Fry.
57
G. Bullough. "Poetry in Modem English Drama", in:
Cairo Studies in English, Cairo, 1960, p.58.
58
C. Fry.
59
W. Wordsworth. "Tintem Abbey", in : Collected Works
of W. Wordsworth, Oxford University Press,
London, 1960,p.228.
60
A. Hinchliffe. Modern Verse Drama, Methuen, London,
1977, p.63.
61
K. Tynan, "Notes On a Dead Language", in: Tynan On
Theatre, Stunner, 1955, p. 25.
62
L. Abercrombie. "The Function of Poetry in Drama",
in: The Poetry Review, March, 1920, p,18.
63
T,S. Eliot.
Oxford University
"Talking of Henry", in: The Twentieth
Century, 169, February, 1961, London,
p. 188.
"Author's Struggle", in: The New York Times,
February 6, 1955, p.II, 3:1.
"A Dialogue On Dramatic Poetry", p.25.
72
64
H. Read.
"Toward The Cocktail Party", in: The Listener,
10 May, 1951, p.26.
65
P. Thouless. Modem Poetic Drama, p.46.
66
S.Spender.
"Modem English Poetic Drama", in: Britain
Today, January, 1952, p.24.
67
P. Thouless. 02* cit., p.46.
68
N.C. Hunter. Modem Trends in the Theatre, University
Swansea, Wales, 1969, p.21.