This document summarizes John Dryden's views on ancient vs modern tragedy in his work An Essay of Dramatic Poesy. It discusses several key points of debate between the ancients and moderns regarding dramatic rules and styles. Dryden himself preferred the more natural English drama over rigid French tragedy, though he respected the ancients. He felt Shakespeare best captured life's truths while Johnson combined scope and classicism, but both surpassed other traditions.

1. Name:Gohli Poojaba S
Roll no.:18
Std:MA Sem 1
Sub:literary theory and
criticism
Topic:Dryden`s concept of
Ancient vs Modern tragedy
Submitted to:Department of
English MKBU

2.  John Dryden is english poet,drametist and critic
of the restoration age.
 His most important prose work of drametic poesy
An essay,gives him the reputation as the father
of english literary criticism.
 Donne represents the conflicting claims of the
two sides as debate among four friends.
 One of the them favoures the ancient over the
moderns theatre.
 One modernist prefers the french drama where
as dryden himself likes the lifelike drama of
english theatre to french tragedy which he
considered beautiful lifeless.

3.  1)Ancients vs moderns
 2)unities
 3)french vs english drama
 4)sepration of tragedy and comedy vs
tragicomedy
 5)appropriatence of rhyme in drama

4.  In the age of Dryden,there is the most important
raged debat on the comparative limits and
qualities of the ancient and moderns.
 Well known satirist Swift treated this debate on
his famous work The battle the books.
 Dryden gives the arguments through the mouth
of Eugenians on behalf of moderns.
 The case for the ancients is presented by crites.
 Dryden takes no extreme position,follow the
golden mean and is sensible enough to give the
ancients their respects.

5.  According to crites,modern imitate the ancients.
 Moderns stand on shoulder of ancients.
 Every age has its own genious and inclinations
for some particular branch of knowledge.
 Moderns have no honored and rewards in some
fields of knowledge.
 Natural and faithful elements proved superior to
ancients in the drama.
 The rules of drametic composition even not
followed by moderns.
 Three unities of time and place and action only
shown in the ancients play.

6.  Moderns have particular devisions of
act,scenes in compare to the ancients.
 Ancient plays had no novelty or originality.it
had the continued subject matter.
 Repetation of some characters are there.
 Narative characterisation,mixture of various
functions in drama performences,too much
narration of actions.

7.  Dryden focuses on the modern english plays,but
does not disparages the ancients.he has some
critical things to say on french drama.
 French and ancient drama has smallness.
 English drama has sub plots,brodly
imagination,and unities.
 Shakespeare had the largest and most
comprehensive soul,while johnson was the most
learned and judicious writer any theatre ever
had.
 Shakespeare had great faithfulness to life.
 Johnson had relatively scope and classical
tendency.

8. He admires Ben johnson but
Loves shakespeare.

9. THANK YOU