Of Dramatic Poesie, an Essay

work by Dryden

Also known as: “Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay”

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discussed in biography
- In John Dryden: Writing for the stage
  In 1668 Dryden published Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay, a leisurely discussion between four contemporary writers of whom Dryden (as Neander) is one. This work is a defense of English drama against the champions of both ancient Classical drama and the Neoclassical French theatre; it is also an attempt…
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place in

English literature
- In English literature: Dryden
  …or, The Silent Woman in Of Dramatic Poesie, an Essay (1668) is remarkable as the first extended analysis of an English play, and his Discourse Concerning the Origin and Progress of Satire (1693) and the preface to the Fables Ancient and Modern (1700) both contain detailed commentary of the highest…
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Neoclassical criticism
- In dramatic literature: Western theory
  …in English is John Dryden’s Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay (1668). Dryden approached the rules with a refreshing honesty and argued all sides of the question; thus he questioned the function of the unities and accepted Shakespeare’s practice of mixing comedy and tragedy.
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view of

comedy
- In comedy: Comedy and character
  …English poet, John Dryden, in Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay (1668), makes the same point in describing the kind of laughter produced by the ancient Greek comedy The Clouds, by Aristophanes. In it the character of Socrates is made ridiculous by acting very unlike the true Socrates—that is, by appearing…
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Shakespeare
- In William Shakespeare: Seventeenth century
  …Dryden, in his essay “Of Dramatick Poesie” (1668) and other essays, condemned the improbabilities of Shakespeare’s late romances. Shakespeare lacked decorum, in Dryden’s view, largely because he had written for an ignorant age and poorly educated audiences. Shakespeare excelled in “fancy” or imagination, but he lagged behind in “judgment.”…
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tragedy
- In tragedy: Neoclassical theory
  …the guise of Neander in Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay (1668), he said that it was
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Sir Robert Howard

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Sir Robert Howard

English dramatist

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Quick Facts

Born:: 1626, England

Died:: Sept. 3, 1698 (aged 72)

Notable Works:: “Of Dramatic Poesie, an Essay”; “The Indian Queen”

Subjects Of Study:: blank verse; rhyme

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Sir Robert Howard (born 1626, England—died Sept. 3, 1698) was an English dramatist, remembered chiefly for his dispute with John Dryden on the use of rhymed verse in drama.

Howard was knighted by the royalists in 1644 and was imprisoned during the Commonwealth, but after the Restoration he was elected to Parliament and ultimately became a member of the Privy Council. His proud and pretentious character provoked frequent attacks.

Of Howard’s plays, the best were The Indian Queen (first performed 1664), a tragedy written in collaboration with Dryden; and The Committee (first performed 1662), a comedy of humours that satirized the Commonwealth regime and gained durable popularity from the character of the Irish footman Teague.

Howard’s preface to Four New Plays (1665) began his dispute with Dryden, who had married Howard’s sister, Lady Elizabeth Howard, in 1663. In his preface Howard opposed Dryden’s dedicatory epistle to The Rival Ladies (1664), which held that rhyme was better suited to heroic tragedy than blank verse. Dryden replied in Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay (1668). In the preface to The Duke of Lerma (1668), Howard replied in a rather more personal tone, but Dryden had the final word in the crushing Defence of an Essay of Dramatick Poesie prefaced to The Indian Emperour (1667).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.