Dryden’s Definition of Drama

John Dryden is a great literary figure of his day. He saw the great plague of 1665; he took him to Charlton in Wilt-shire, where he lived for eighteen months and wrote dramatic poetry. The play is in the form of a dialogue, composed of four characters, arguing about the drama. It proved to be a popular literary form, and it reigned supreme in England for the next seventy-five years. It is an Aristotelian form because several people with different wits and faculties participate in the discussion and contribute to it by giving or adding their points of view and ideas. In this dramatic poetry, the focus of discussion is the drama. Dryden’s definition of drama really covers a wide range. It can be applied to heroic poems, epics, and romances or dramas. He treats drama as a form of imaginative literature that appeals to poetry.

According to him, the drama is a fair and living image of human nature, representing its passions and moods, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of humanity. He insists on the words ‘Fair’ and ‘living’ image of human nature. In support of the words, it must be admitted that the material of all subjects is drawn from a society. Society is made of human beings or living beings, and without them, society is nothing. Dryden implies the word ‘Image’ as an imitation or appearance of human nature that must be fair. It simply means exact or as is. It means an exact copy of reality. Dryden is different; he does not like only the slavish or exact copy of reality, but must be lively. David Diaches expresses that the image of human nature is implicit both in the theater and in imaginative literature, which shows the performance of people in such a way that it reveals what they are like. Furthermore, he says that Dryden has used the word ‘Image’ for the appearance of human actions. Human actions must be fair and lively. Plato described the imitation of the imitation or copy of the copy. He’s no different, but he adds the word ‘animated’.

In poetic imitation, the word ‘Fair’ is not enough, but the word ‘Alive’ must be added. ‘Lively’ means interesting. David Diaches interprets it as interesting. RA Scott James agrees and interprets it as beautiful and charming. Such an interpretation admits that the poet is a doer or a creator. He finds the material, works it and embellishes it, enhancing its quality. John Dryden values ​​work. If one reveals it as crude as it was, it must be a crude work of trivial value. If it is represented alive, the work would be alive, and the poet would be valued.

Dryden is really a great critic and supporter of the imagination. At his age, he is quite different from all the poets. He calls imagination as a special faculty of a creative artist without rules and regulations. He allows the artist to create the work of beauty that distinguishes him. In fact, the imagination is like a polish that makes the material elegant. Such work raises its value more and more. In other words, it is more necessary to say that the imagination is a molding power. Through it, the poet selects, orders, rearranges and enhances his material. As a result, the most distinctive and beautiful material is achieved. Through imaginative creation, the fair images of human nature come to life.

Creative writers or artists do not have the same power imagination. Each one has his own, and brings something different and peculiar to his work. In fact, it forms the personality of a writer. According to Dryden, it is an inherent element found differently in Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher. Each poet has his own qualities, and through them his work is analyzed and valued. Dryden admits that Shakespeare writes best between man and man; Fletcher between man and woman. One best describes friendship and the other love. He is of the opinion that imaginative work gives birth to the qualities and peculiarities of a writer; for which he is known in the world of letters. So such qualities or quirks make you more distinctive as a writer. Actually, he talks about the individual qualities of the creators that are named and contrasted. Pursuing such qualities, he accepts Shakespeare as Homer, or the father of dramatic poets, and Jonson is accepted as Virgil, or the model of elaborate writing. He concludes that he admires Jonson, but loves Shakespeare. It all depends on the faculty of imagination. The rich faculty forms a rich work and makes the writer eminent.

In John Dryden’s definition of theatre, delight is paramount and instruction is secondary. The function of poetry is to delight, and to instruct is the function of prose. It is he who combines the two. It is examined that the instruction comes out of delight. A simple imitation gives birth to a simple instruction which is quite ineffective, but when the simple imitation is selected, ordered, and shaped by the poet’s imagination, the work becomes beautiful and alive. David Diaches expresses that the function of poetry is to inform the reader in an entertaining and lively way, or as he likes human nature.

Scott James emphasizes aesthetic pleasure or delight. The aesthetic delight has to do with the poetry that springs from a beautiful thought. Shamasuddin Bulbul, the great poet from the city of Mehar, also emphasized aesthetic pleasure as the main function of poetry. Scott James says that the pleasure that a work of art produces is of a certain kind; it is what arises from a sense of living creativity. For Dryden, to speak of poetry is to speak of beauty. If one speaks of the pleasure of poetry, one understands a pleasure that arises from fine art. Aesthetic pleasure has the power to move and transport. According to Dryden, the power of aesthetic pleasure affects the soul and excites passion and, above all, moves admiration. The soul, then, is moved when reading the beautiful work, and forces the reader to value it.

Poetry teaches how it delights. A simple imitation of reality has no such power. It is in the imagination of the poet who makes beautiful works of art. John Dryden lives in the age of prose, but he follows such a concept that distinguishes him from others. The concept of poetic imitation of him is not mere imitation, but is the work of a poet, a maker or a creator, whose endeavor is to produce some but beautiful work of art. Such live labor gives pleasure or delight, and delight gives birth to instruction which is very effective and resultant.