The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-21
Dryden's Heroic Plays.

Dryden's Heroic Plays.
During the Commonwealth, as everybody
knows, the playhouses were shut up, and the
race of actors which had been encouraged by
the numerous theatres of London found their
occupation gone. But on the return of Charles
the Second, with his foreign tastes and educated
appreciation OF dramatic wit the stage revived.
The spirit OF Shakespeare and JOnson, IL Is true,
had flown. There was no resurrection OF the
true ElZabethau genius for dramatic compost
tou. But plays were in requestj and Sir
William Davensn who had employ ed his leisure
hours during the winter OF Puritanical suspen-
sion in writing operas OF aTomantC cast. began
10 furbish them up for representation on the pub.
lie stage. These plays were written in rhyme,
and, either on this account or for the mere
sake OF putting his performances, Davenant hit
upon the lucky idea of calling them "herolc.n
Dryden was then an asprant after literary
fame, and the way to win laurels was to write
for the theatre, He therefore turned his hand
to the composition of heroic plays. The seed
scattered by Sir William Davenant had fallen
upon fruitful ground. The very anne heroic
suggested all manner OF things TO Dryden.
While rejecting on the faults OF Davenant he
says:-"I opened the next book that lay by me,
which was 'ArIo5to, in Italian; and the very
first two lines of that poem gave me light to all
l could dosire;-
lie dame caviIer, Parme, gil amori,
lie cortesie, Paudact imprese 10 canto;'
for the very next reflection which made was
this, that an heroic play ought to be an imita.
ton, in little, of an heroic poem" Let US
pause for moment to wonder at the miracles of
calls bis pseudooperas heroic; Dryden puzzles
how he is TO improve upon them; the first lines
OF the first book he takes up suggest the
necessary hint. The public has taste for
heroic plays. Heroic plays must follow the
model of heroic poems. Love and valor are
the main matters in heroic poems. Therefore,
the more love and valor l crowd into my
plays the more heroic will they be, the more
money shall l make, the more laurels will
they crown me with. Shut up Arlosto
and begin to scrbbe. This was a very common
mode of reasoning with Dryden. and nothing
Is more charming than the nd.Uete with which
he exposes in his pretaces these secret workings
of his mind. But stop a moment-all is not
yet fnished If everything about my play must
be heroic, l canuot put up with common prose
or pedestrian blank rse:-"The plot, the char
acters, the wit, the passions, the descriptions
are all exalted above the level of common con-
verse; az high as the imagination of the poet can
carry them, with proportion TO verisimilitude
Blank verse is acknowledged to be too
low for a poem-nay, more, Tor a paper of
verses; but il too low for an ordinary sonnet
how much more ior tragedy" etc. Alas poor
Miltcn This is the heroic poet who asked
permits, ion to versity your paradise" and who
got the answer from you, LET the young man
tag his rhymes !" Moreover, reasons Dryden,
we must not oDly soar TO the height of eXtraor-
dina1y characters and passions, but also indulge
ourselves in portentous changes of fortune. in
supernatural machinery. in rare and wonderful
object the improbabilities of spirit
appearing OF of palace raised by
magic, / boldly answer him that an heroic poet
is not tied to bare representation of what is
true or exceeding probable; but that he may let
himself loose TO visionary objects, and to the
representation of such things as, depending not
on sense, and therefore not to be comprehended
by knowledge, may give him freer scope for
Imagination" Thus Dryden pieced together his
theory of the heroic drama. in which Herod was
out-Heroded by the meanest hostler, and the
very pages staggered IN King Cambyses' vein.
The critics of the day, laughing at these preten-
sions of the heroic poet, described him as the
'man nature seemed to make choice of to en-
large the poets empire, and to co nplete those
Shakespeare and Fletcher (as some Think
erected the pillars of poetry is a gross error:
this zany of Columbus has discovered poetical
world of greater extent than the natural, peoped
with Atlantic colonies of notional creatures,
astral spirits, ghosts, and idols, more various
than ever the Indians worshipped, and heroes
more jawless than their savages," (Cen-
sure of the Rota.) If it were worth
while to criticize the theory seriously, we
might point out that Dryden's first mistake
arose from confoundiDg the style proper to the
italian narrative romance with that which suits
the stage. We tolerate great deal of impro-
liability and extravaganza OF fancy in reading
sem-serous poem like the "0rlando," which
seems ridiculous when acted in would-be
tragedy like the Indian Emperor. HIS next
and fatal blunder was to suppose that he pos
sessed the imagination tit for inventlng super
natural machinery or for portraying characters
raised above the human stature. The farrago
of nonsense which he produced is the best pos
sibIy commentary on this criticism. With all
his vigor of intellect ard fiery genius, Dryden
could not toar above the earth. The style with
which he sought TO dignity his matter was in
flated-o overloaded with bombastical apostrophes
and Smiles ridiculous ror their prosliC magnilo.
quence. He nistook sound and furyn for
poetic rapture, and thought TO scale the
heavens by piing mountains upon mountains of
mere verbisgc. Supposing his hastily and incon.
gTuously formed ideal OF the heroic drama to
have been capable Of realization, Dryden was
the last man to have attempted 1t.
His heroic plays, however, sNccecded for q
few years with the public The enthusiasm for
these eXtrayagant and turgid dramas, which
''were called heroic because they were written
in a language elevated abeye nature, and exhibit
passion IN 4 state OF mGuiscal ecstasy" rose to
tie high Water-mark on the appearance of the
Conquest of Glanada.r Dryden's arrogant
eplogue to this piece seemed lib be glove thrown
down to challenge men OF common sense. This
glove was taken up by many, but none of
DrYden's antagonists achieyed 50 signal sue
cess az the authofs OF The Rehearsal for
whom II remained 10 bUrst the bubble OF heroic
plays, and TO obliterate them for eyer.-Pad
Hal Gazette.
The Indians caught New Mexican mil
tIo lot, bbod of 400