Dramatic Irony in Hardy’s novels

Name: jumani pooja k

Paper: 405 Thomas Hardy as novelist

Topic:   Dramatic Irony in Hardy’s novels

Roll no: 16

M.A:part 2

Sem: 4

year:2012-13

Submitted to

Dr Dilip Barad

Department of English

M.K.  Bhavnagar University

Dramatic Irony in Hardy’s novels

Thomas Hardy great writer in his time Victorian age and he wrote many novels and poems and he use Dramatic Irony in his novel basically, it's when the reader knows more about what's going on than the characters, and they see the meaning or truth where the characters do not.

Thomas Hardy’s novels   

·       Tess of the D’ Urbervilles

·       Two on the tower

·       The return of the native

·       The Mayor of the Casterbridge

·       Well beloved

This all fives novels he greats works and he use irony of difference way.  Hardy put simple things but the meaning is difference 

The term irony has its roots in the Greek comic character Eiron a clever underdog who by his wit repeatedly triumphs over the boastful character Alazon. The Socratic irony of the Platonic dialogues derives from this comic origin.

The word came into English as a figure of speech in the 16th century as similar to the French ironie. It derives from the Latin ironie and ultimately from the Greek eirōneía, meaning dissimulation, ignorance purposely affected

           Types of irony

·       Verbal irony

·       Situation irony

·       Dramatic irony

Tomas hardy use that kind of irony. But he mostly use Dramatic irony and hi was brilliant of that work. 

Dramatic irony, which itself is a little ironic since I've discovered I love first person. Harder to pull of dramatic irony when there's only one.

        Verbal irony

 Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal meaning is contrary to its intended effect. An example of this is when someone says "Oh, that's beautiful", when what he means (probably conveyed by intonation) is he finds "that" quite ugly.

     Situation irony  

 Situational irony is the disparity of intention and result; when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect. Being

"shot with one's own gun" or "hoisted with one's own  peterd are popular formulations of the basic idea of situation irony.

 Dramatic irony

 Dramatic irony is a disparity of awareness between actor and observer: when words and actions possess significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or character does not; for example when a character says to another "I'll see you tomorrow!" when the audience (but not the character) knows that the character will die before morning.

Now, here's where dramatic irony can be super fun. You can show issues going on in all three POVs, but since they each only get a piece of the puzzle, the reader can start to put the whole picture together before the characters know what's going on. Readers will see that Jack discovering there's a ship out there attacking folks is true, but it's not the ship he thinks it is. Miranda sees the overall span of the problem, so readers know it's not just Xitic and her ship. Xitic gets enough details to prove her ship is not the one doing the attacking.
Create dramatic irony by having your characters get the exact opposite of what they wanted. For instance, the young woman who swore she’d only marry a rich man ends up falling in love with a poor one.

Thomas hardy use dramatic irony the irony is seen throughout the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

For Example

Situational: Alec's father added the name D'Urberville to Stokes-Tess doesn't know this
Tess is uneducated compared to Angel, and yet is the true modern thinker

Dramatic: Angel's hypocritical reaction to Tess's confession about her tragedy
Mrs. Clare's acceptance of Tess right as Tess and Angel separate

The Mayor of Casterbridge Irony and Meaning English Literature Essay

The mayor of Casterbridge, which is written by Thomas hardy, describes a character by the name of Michael Henchard who becomes successful as a mayor. He later becomes bankrupt and is also affected by his lover's tragic death. The mayor of casterbridge is a story that shows how fate cannot be conquered by people, although most people believe to be in control of their own destinies.Irony is the expectation between what is uttered or said to what is meant. There are many types of irony and they include; verbal, situational, comic, socratic, historical, dramatic, tragic and fate irony.

Fate is natural and irony is a part of fate; without irony then the
fate in Hardy's novels and poetry would be left empty of meaning and
also of interest. Irony and fate are tangled together in a complex web
where they mutually rely on each other and would disintegrate without
the other for support. Irony's importance is no greater and no less
than the importance of fate in Hardy's novels and it is irony and fate
together that make Hardy's work compelling to read and study.

A Short History of Newspapers and Magazines

Name: jumani pooja k

Paper: 403 Mass media

Topic:   A Short History of Newspapers and Magazines

Roll no: 16

M.A:part 2

Sem: 4

Year: 2012-13

Submitted to

  

 Dr Dilip Barad

    Department of English

M.K.  Bhavnagar University

  

                                  

A Short History of Newspapers and Magazines

Before the invention of newspapers in the early 17th century, official government bulletins were circulated at times in some centralized empires.

And people didn’t know about news or idea of the news or that kind of things. After the handwritten news sheet, and single item news publications.

The Roman Empire published Acta Diurna ("Daily Acts"), or government announcement bulletins, around 59 BC, as ordered by Julius Caesar.  They were carved in metal or stone and posted in public places.

In 1766,A British editer,William Bolts, offered the first ever paper to his fellow countrymen in Calcutta and helped them establish a printing press.

In 1780, James Augustus Hickey published Bengal Gazette/General Calcutta Adviser. The size of that four-  page newspaper was 12"x8". Hickey too was against the Company Government and published internal news of the employees of the Company.

In November 1781, India Gazette was also introduced; it was pro Government and against Hickey

Newspapers of that time were in English, and the news only related to British activity in India. As the readers were also British, the local population was not the target. But the Company feared that these Indian papers could get to England and may defame the Company in England. English papers used to take nine months to reach India.

There is more bad news. The golden age of political coverage that journalism critics pine over – the era when reporters concentrated on the "real" issues-turns out to have been as mythical as the golden age of politics. In those rare historical moments when politicians deigned to face major problems and condescended to allow journalists to comment on them, those comments tended to be wildly subjective, as when the founders of our free press called their pro-British compatriots "diabolical Tools of Tyrants" and "men totally abandoned to wickedness." Samuel Johnson, writing in a era when thinkers like Joseph Addison, Daniel Defoe and Jonathon Swift dominated British periodicals, concluded that the press "affords sufficient information to elate vanity, and stiffen obstinacy, but too little to enlarge the mind."

By the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspaper-type publications though not all of them developed in the same way; content was vastly shaped by regional and cultural preferences. Advances in printing technology related to the Industrial Revolution enabled newspapers to become an even more widely circulated means of communication. In 1814 The Times u.k acquired a printing press capable of making 1,100 impressions per minute

•      1920s and 1930s

Ø Newspapers in this period started reflecting popular political opinion. While big

Ø English dailies were loyal to the British government, the vernacular press was

Ø strongly nationalist.

Ø The Leader and Bombay Chronicle were pro-Congress.

Ø The Servant of India and The Bombay Chronicle were moderate.

Ø The Bande Mataram of Aurbindo Ghosh, Kal of Poona and Sakli of Surat were

Ø fiercely nationalist

As more and more Indians started learning English, many became reporters, editors an  even owners. The Anglo-Indian press began to lose ground except in Bombay and Calcutta.

In 1927, industrialist G D Birla took over Hindustan Times and placed it on a sound financial footing.

news give knowledge about universal as well as around to us its good for the readers and aware of the peoples  and they know about of society affaires and politician issue. News give information about world.

The bad news is that two of the subjects humans have   most wanted to keep up with throughout the ages are – you guessed it – sex and violence.

Ø History of magazine

The English word magazine recalls Magazines

Military storehouse of war materiel and originally was derived from the Arabic word makhazin meaning "storehouses." The term magazine was coined for this use by Edward Cave, editor o

Ø Types of Magazines

Most magazines look more or less the same at first glance, but

Consumer: magazines targeting general reading audiences who       are subsets of the general public with special interests. For instance, there are consumer magazines that cover homes, sports, news, fashion, teen gossip, and many more groups of readers.

 1857The Uprising of 1857 brought out the divide between Indian  owned and British owned

 Newspapers. The government passed the Gagging Act of      1847and the Vernacular Press

Act in 1876

Trade and Professional: magazines targeting people working in trades, businesses and professional fields. These periodicals provide news, information and how-to articles for readers working in specific industries with advertising content focused on those industries or trades including job notices.

v  Some popular and the world’s first magazines

Ø 1731 The first modern general-interest magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine, is published in England as entertainment with essays, stories, poems and political commentary.

Ø 1739 The Scots Magazine begins and today remains the oldest consumer magazine in print.

Ø 1741 Benjamin Franklin intends to publish America's first magazine, General Magazine, but is scooped when American Magazine comes out three days earlier.

Ø 1770 The first women's magazine, The Lady's Magazine, starts with literary and fashion content plus embroidery patterns.

Ø 1843 The Economist begins examining news, politics, business, science and the arts.

Ø 1857 The Atlantic magazine arrives.

Themes of the Da Vinci code

                                               Name: jumani pooja k

Paper: 401 new Literature

Topic: Themes of the Da Vinci code

                                                      Roll no: 16

                                         

                                                       M.A: part 2

Sem:  4

Year: 2012-13

Submitted to

Dr Dilip Barad

Department of English

M.K.  Bhavnagar University

Themes of the Da Vinci Code

Introduction

The Da Vinci code written by Dan Brown and the investigation of the family of Jesus. It’s about female scrattness so its also feminism novel and Dan brown drown god way woman character Sophie never. Who is the Agent of the department of cryptology and sauniere granddaughter?

The Da Vinci code book one of best work of Dan brown. The novel is thriller book as well as anti-religious book

THEMES

Themes are the fundamental and often universal idea explored in literary work so here not only one themes but so many Theme which I am write here

  

Theme of the false conflict between faith and knowledge

Dan brown refuses that idea the faith in god is rooted in ignorance of the truth. The ignorance that the church has something advocated is embodieil in the character of bishop Aringarosa who does not think the church should be involved in scientific investigation. According to the Da Vinci code. The church has also enforced ignorance about the existence of the descendents of Jesus. Although at one point in the novel Langdon says that perhaps the secrets of the Grail should be preserved in order to allow people to keep their faith, he also thinks that people who truly believe  in god will be able to accept the idea that the Bible is full of   metaphors; not literal transcripts  of  the truth. People’s faith, in other word cammnstand the truth.

v     The subjectivity of History

                 The Da Vinci code raises the question of whether history books necessarily tell the only truth. The novel is full of reinterpretations of commonly told stories, such as those of juses’ life, the pentacle and   The Da Vinci fresco the last supper. Brown provides his own explanation of how the Bible was compiled and of the missing gospels. Langdon even interprets the Disney movie the little mermaid, reciting it as an attempt by Disney to show the divine femininity that has been lost. All of these retellings are presented as at least partly true.

v     The Intelligence of women

Characters in the Da Vinci code ignore the power of woman at their peril. Throughout the novel. Sophie is underestimated. She is able is sneak into the Louvre and give Langdon a secret message. Saving him from arrest. Because fiche specifically calls Sophie a “female cryptologist” when he is expressing his doubts about Sophie and Langdon s ability to evade Interpol. When interpreting one of the clues hidden in the rose box. Langdon and tabbing leave Sophie out, completely patronizing her. When she is finally allowed to see the clue, she immediately understands how to interpret it. Sophie saves Langdon from arrest countless times

Other women are similarly underestimated. Sister Sandrine. In the church of saint-surplice, is as entry for the brotherhood, but Silas  indoctrinated in the hyper masculine ways of opus dei, and does not consider her a threat. And Marie chauvel, Sophie s grandmother, manages to live without incident near Roslyn chapel for years, preserving her bloodline through Sophie s brother.

Good intentions win over greed

                        

    The Da Vinci code is written as a classic thriller in which, throughout the book, good and evil take turns having the upper hand. However. By the end of the book, the age-old truth is proven again, that good triumphs over evil. In this book, evil was more accurateiy described as greed. Sir Teabing s misguided intentions to reveal the truth about the Holy Grail were a result of his greed for knowledge of the truth and power. He capitalized on Bishop Aringarosa s greed for power to lord over the Vatican.

v      Search for truth is timeless

The question of whether Christ and Mary Magdalene were married is about as old as the Christian church. The search for the truth about this subject is timeless and has permeated lore for thousands of years. As the success of Dan Brown s book proves, it is still a great question. The millions of readers are interested in the quest for the truth on this subject as well as the characters in the book. Robert Langdon and sir teabing, two of the main characters, have devoted their lives to the quest for the truth about the Holy Grail. Although their motives become very different, the two men have made the search for the Holy Grail central point of their lives and careers.

v     Christianity vs. paganism

A theme central to The Da Vinci code is the similarities and differences and influences upon each other of Christianity and paganism. Throughout the book, the author provides a history of the influences that paganism had on the early Christian church and how those influences have prevailed throughout history. The book also discusses the power that paganism had over the early Christian church and the eventual power that the Christian church gained over paganism to force the suppression of many of the pagan practices, including goddess worship and nature worship.      

         

        

'A Grain of Wheat' as an Anti- colonial struggle

Name:  jumani pooja k

Paper: 402 African Literature

Topic:  'A Grain of Wheat' as an Anti- colonial struggle 

Roll no:   16

M.A    part 2

Sem   4

Year   2012-13

Submitted to

Dr Dilip Barad

Department of English

M.K.  Bhavnagar University

A Grain of wheat as an Anti- colonial struggle

 A wheat written by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong and its third novel. This novel his great work to him and marks a significant

turn in his literary production, as a Marxist and Fanonian militant attitude replaces the liberal Christianism of his first works.

“A Grain of wheat” chronicles the events leading up to Kenyan independence, or Uruhu, in a Kenyan village.

At the beginning of the novel, as independence approaches, several visitors come to mugo s door. They ask him to speak at the Uruhu celebration and become a leader, and also ask if kihika mentioned karanja, a worker for the white government who is suspected of betraying his friend, before his death. Kihika, a rebel fighter from the village, was captured and publicly hanged. Mugo denies knowing anything about kihika s death and says he ll think about making the speech.

The novel “A Grain of wheat” reveals a number of characters experiences during the lead-up to Kenyan independence, or Uruhu. Mugo is one of the central characters. He feels detached from the world around him, and he is fearful of the attention given to him by the townspeople. Mugo s connection with the woman in the hut is a central element in the story. They are connected by their common loneliness. Mugo has no one, and he cannot bring himself to participate in the community. The old woman has lost her son, and she talks to no one. She lives isolated, away from the world, sequestered by loss and trauma.

Religion is an important element in the novel. The white men brought Christianity to Kenya, and many blacks take up Christian religion. However. The existing religions do not die. At the Uruhu celebration, the town will sacrifice rams in a traditional sacrificial rite. At the same time, kihika is a devoutly religious man, comparing the struggle of the black man in Kenya with the struggle of the Jews to be freed from the pharaoh. His bible is full of underlined passages, and one passage that Gikonyo reads becomes important mugo. God is on the side of the oppressed and will save the impoverished and downtrodden. Mugo, though not moved by kihika s abstract ideas of freedom and black unity, is moved by the idea of the poor and the suffering. He empathizes with individual tragedy.

Ngugi Wa Thiang’o arises the concepts such as negritude nation and nationalism. Fanon defined anti-colonial nationalism. He might recap following points in the novel A Grain of Wheat. He asserts the rights of colonized peoples to make their own self-definitions, rather than he defined by the colonizers. He offers the means to identify alternative histories, cultural traditions and knowledge which conflict with the representations of colonial discourses. He presents the cultural inheritance of the colonized people in defiance of colonial discourses, etc.

The novel ends with Uruhu. Kenyan independence is the end era, and beginning of a new one. No one knows what is coming, good or bad. Political corruption corruption certainly exists, and the wealthy seem to remain wealthy while the poor remain poor. Still, Uruhu means change, and change means hope. The celebration is a coming together of the people a time for unity in the quest to move forward.

The rase is a central point of chapter 14. Each runner has his own experience, and running seems to free the runner’s minds to wander over their pasts, their goals and hopes. And their disappointments. The rase seems to be almost a replay of the past, at this moment of moving into the future. Gikonyo and karanja go back to a pivotal time in their lives, the day when Gikonyo and mumbi first express their love for each other. Karanja s disappointment and bitterness begins at this moment, when he realizes that Gikonyo and mumbi are off together. Gikonyo s bitterness and disappointment also begin at this moment, though it is a moment of joy for him. Gaining mumbi as a lover means that Gikonyo is risking his heart. By racing against each other. Both Gikonyo and karanja hope to recover heir pride and mumbi. Neither can win this race.

Mugo, mean while, has struggled with his guilt. He also has looked toward the past at this moment of moving into the future. He finds that he cannot live with the guilt that he feels. Like Dr. Lynd, like mumbi, like Gikonyo, mumbi feels the need to tell his story and connect with the human beings around him. He must confess.

European colonialism

A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is a novel depicting the people of Kenya and their various struggles with European colonialism. As is typical of this type of fiction writing, this work contains seemingly factual evidence about colonialism; yet it also includes a sub-plot about the relationship between main characters, Mugo and Kihika, as well as quite a bit of figurative language, such as symbolism and metaphors, that allow the reader to interpret underlying meanings for some sections of the book.

Lastly, the structure of the chapters within the novel is telling of the colonial experience. The beginning chapters of the novel can only be identified by number. Towards the end of the book, however, the chapters' titles become names, such as "Mugo" and "Karanja." This chapter titling sequence is indicative and symbolic of the Kenyans; once nameless and lost in European culture; the Kenyans are now shown gaining order, taking power from European colonials and growing back into their own cultural identities.

This novel is certainly an artful representation of colonialism in Kenya.

History of Translation

Name: jumani pooja k.

Roll no: 08

Sem.: 3

Part: 2

Topic: history of translation

Paper no: 05 translation studies

Year: 2012-13

Submitted to

Dr. Dilip Barad,

Dept. of English,

Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University,

Bhavnagar

History of translation

In translation studies history is very reach and translation is an essential part of the literary and cultural history of country. To trace its beginning or to periodize its development in any absolute sense would be a task. However exponents in the fielded like stained do make an arbitrary periodization of the history of translation. This periodization consists of four phases. The first extending from the time of ciaro and Horso to the time of Alexander Fraser Tytler from 46 BC to 1792.

Literature is more influence of translation study. And England literature French American and other literature it translation in other language. Some writers to convince in other language

In first language and literature not could translated but after some time it became necessary because literature became successful and the other countries wonted to read but they didn’t understand other language and after that idea were came and start to translation in language and it also became part of studies and it have to learn in translation

Translation according to Eric Jacobson is a Roman inversion. The roman unlike the Greeks, were unable to creadimaginative literature in their own capacity. The Romans were more practical minded and lacked imagination and originality.thefore to enrich their language the Roman sought to translation Greek classical for this purpose they formulated contain primitive and realistic views on translation. Their proactive of translation. it their intention was a Erich their language their stresses mainly on the aesthetic aspect of the TLT and less on the fidelity so SLT o fried rich clearly explain this point of view so translation in the European context in his essay on the art of translation as follows.

In Europe literary translation has been know since the age of Romans, translation shows how the literature and philosophy of the Roman and genial strength from Greek models.

English translation:

In British and American language and literature more famous and it very quay translation in another language. When literature translated other language at same times peoples got knowledge to knowing another culture and language also.

Even Longinus while speaking on sublimity in literature stated that “imitation and emulation of the great historians and poets of the past is on of the paths toward the sublime and translation is one aspect of imitation in the Roman concept of literary production”. Like Horace and Longinus too believed in a judicious interpretation of the SLT. The entire tree Roman lay stresses on a sense for translation. According to them the translation’s responsibility is to the TL reader. By their preempt a good translation should pre-suppose a bilingual reader conversant with both SL and TL and could read the translation through the sours language text and assess the creative ability of the translator in making the SLT as his model.

Translation means a stylistic exercise to Quintilian. His institution arterial explains the role and importance of translation in the study of oratory to analysis the structure of the SLT and to experiment with its style. While paraphrasing a text. The translation maintains closeness to the style of the writer and experiment with various forms of artistic details.

Renaissance in Europe owes a great deal to translation. It was translations that ensure the “wisdom and profile of the part” to the present and future and in this task Rome played a vital roll. As J. A Symonds says it in his Renaissance in ltaly. Roma was “a Factor like patio, Ovid sense and Homer were translated and their translation affected the intellectual and emotional life of Europe to a great extent. There were many important Factored white had to the Flourishing of translation during the period. It was a period in the history of Europe which recorded many voyages of discovery around the world across the seas. There voyages and the discoveries of new lands opened up new vistas in literature. The people who had a theist for knowledge resorted to translations of the literature of the new found lands. a deed to this was the invention of the printing preset. The volume of translation increased significantly and quenched the increasing thirst for knowledge.

 Renaissance England translation

Renaissance planted its foot in England through translation. Speaking about the significance of translation in Elizabethan England. F.o. Mathiessen writes that a study of Elizabethan translation is a study of the mean by which the Renaissance came to England of the early Elizabethan translations Wyatt and swivel are considered important for their notable contribution. Their translation is mainly adaptation. Their faithfulness is not to worlds or sentence structure in the SLT but to the sense and tone of the SLT in relationship to its reader.

The Victorian translations  

The Victorian translations and the pre-Raphadites were pedantic and armchair, their focus was on conveying the remoteness in time and place in the SLT. Fortis parpose they used a special “mock antique” languages. J.M. cohen in English translation and translations takes a critical view of the stand of the Victorian. And state that their theory was founded on a fundamental error” theory was according to Cohen such pedantic and archaic translation could only lead to its steady define in states.

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was a great admirer of German, he made translation of German classic and in this attempt the used elaborate structures in English similar to the ones found in Graman praising the profusion of German. Translation. He stets “in spirit which deserves to be able to participate in whatever worth or beady another nation had produced.

Conclusion   

Well we read and find whole things and it though that it discussion with my response to a couple of question often postal about translation. In translation most depended glossary explanation ascetics under ending or foot notes when we translated at that time we face more problems and meaning are also lost.

Essay on Dramatic poesy

Name: jumani pooja k.

Roll no: 08

Sem.: 3

Part: 2

Topic: Essay on Dramatic poesy

Paper no: Literary Criticism

Year: 2012-13

Submitted to

Dr. Dilip Barad,

                                      Dept. of English,

Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University,

Bhavnagar

An essay of Dramatic poesy (John Dryden)

An essay of dramatic poesy written by john Dryden and he was master of in his works at also best dramatic writer in that time.

    John Dryden (1631-1700), English poet, dramatist, and critic, was the leading literary figure of the restoration age.

In 1668, he wrote his most important prose work, of dramatic Poesy, an Essay, the basis for his reputation as the father of English literary criticism.

The climate of criticism changed with the arrival on the literary scene of such giants as Miguel de Cervantes, lope de Vega, and Pedro Calderon in Spain, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and john Milton in England, and Pierre Corneille, Jean Baptieste Racine, and Moliere in France. 

Most of these writers specialized or excelled in drama, and consequently the so-called battle of the ancients and moderns-the critical comparison of Greek and Roman authors with more recent ones-was fought chiefly in that arena.

In his Essay of dramatic Poesy (1668), English poet and playwright John Dryden presented the conflicting claims of the two sides as a debate among four friends, only one of whom favors the ancient over the modern theater. One modernist Prefers the dignified “decorum” of French drama to the confusing “tumult” of actions and emotions on the English stage, By contrast, Dryden’ s spokesman prefers the lifelike drama of English theater to French tragedy, which he considers beautiful but lifeless.

All agree, however, that “ a play ought to be a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humors, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”

In his address, “To the Readers”, prefixed to ‘the Essay’,  Dryden says that his aim we”….. to vindicate the honor of our English writers from the censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them.”

The Essay is also an attempt to evolve the Principles which ought to guide us in judging a play, as well as an effort to discover the rules which could help a dramatist in writing a good play.

The Essay is also a contribution to two current controversies:

1)         Regarding comparative superiority of ancient and the moderns

2)   The comparative merits and demerits of blank verse and rhyme for dramatic purpose.

Samuel sorbiere’s (French) unfavorable remark about English life, stage and science.

Five issues are under discussion in this essay:

Ancients vs. moderns

Unities

French vs. English Drama Separation of tragedy and comedy vs. tragicomedy

Appropriateness of Rhyme in Drama

Dryden is a neoclassic critic, and at he also deals in his criticism with some issues of the form and morality in drama. However, he is not a rule bound critic, tied down to the classical unities or to notions of what constitutes a “proper” character for the stage. He relies heavily on a pragmatic tradition.

Dryden wrote the essay and dramatic dialogue with the four characters representing four critical positions. These four critical position deals with five issues.

In his essay he primarily focusing on the drama, the poetry of plays, at also used “platonic” method, he was creates a dialogue between poet/critics of the day who have different viewpoint about the strengths and weaknesses of, and influences on, British poesy. And put the argument and at also talk about variety of position into consideration. And create new “rules” for drama and comedy, or verse.

At the end of the essay, a discussion of the proper use of rhyme and verse ensues, mostly between cries who wants to eliminate the use of rhyme, which he sees as sounding artificial, and Neander, who says if you want to eliminate rhyme on that basic, why not verse on the same grounds. He also suggests that comedy should not be rhymed but that the heroic tragedy should be.

Comment upon Dryden’s comparative criticism of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher in ‘An Essay of Dramatic Poesy’.

John Fletcher (1579-1625)

He was English poet and playwright. He well known for the tragicomedies Most scholars acknowledge that Fletcher’s real talent lay in comedy, in the genre of tragicomedy. His style of tragicomedy at its best manages to generate considerable power through the sheer variety of the emotions it arouses. His main themes of love and emotions.

Shakespeare: in his remarks on Shakespeare, Dryden ceases to be a classicist and goes over to the other camp of the romantics. He writes “To begining then with Shakespeare, he was the man who of all Moderns, and perhaps Ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul his all image of nature were still present to him

He further adds that: …however others are now generally prefer before him, yet the Age wherein e lived  which had contemporaries with him, Fletcher and Jonson never equal’s them to him in their esteem.

These remarks are illuminating and suggestive. They show that Dryden was quite conscious of both the weakness and real greatness of Shakespeare.

Ben Jonson: he said that I think the most learned and judicious writer which any Theater ever had. But something of Art was wanting to the Drama till he came. He managed his strength to more advantage then any who preceded him.

Significance of Dryden’s view:

Dryden’s evolution of Shakespeare, Jonson,Beaunont and Fletcher, is of significance for number of reasons.

1)    First, the ‘Essay’ completes historical perspective which Dryden presents in the essay. He talk about the Ancients, the French, and the Moderns.

2)    His ‘Essay’ is a valuable contribution to the controversies of the day:

·       The Ancients Vs the Modern

·       The French Vs the English Drama

·       The Blank verse Vs rhyme and

·       The Elizabethan Vs the Restoration drama.

3)    This Essay reveals Dryden’s comparative method of criticism at its best.