Write a brief note on the story of English Drama.
Ans.The word 'Drama' derives from a Greak word meaning 'thing done
The two words- "drama' and 'play' are synonymous. In our country, the world
drama' is more popular than the word' play'.
There are different types of drama-Tragedy, Comedy. Tragiccomedy, Farce
and Melodrama, etc.
Summary :Drama came centuries back with the coming of the Normans.
Soon after the Norman Conquest, the religious plays appeared in England.
These sacred plays were known as Miracle Playsor Mysteries These miracle
plays increased in number and in popularity.
In the Middle Ages developed another kind of plays which were called
Morality Plays. Interludewas also a later product of the Morality play. Beside
the Miracle Playsand Interludes.there were several kinds of plays.
English writers studied classics for inspiration and example in drama and
in other fields of literary enterprise. They learned many valuable lessons in the
principles of dramatic construction and technique.
The classical influence upon tragedy was greater. After the period of
quarter centuries ofgreat contfusion, Shakespear came with the romantic form
of drama. Shakespear's immediate predecessors were known as the'University
Wits Shakespear's dramas are a greater river of life and beauty. In the plays of
Shakespeare, man occupies the centre of creation. He enjoys free-will and
becomes responsible for his destiny to a greater extent. Thus, English drama
reached the highest point during the reign of Elizabeth.
Thereafter came Jacobean age. But Jacobean dama lost the optimistic and
patinoalistic temper ofthe Elizabethan drama. The drama of the latereighteenth
Century did not reach the same high level. The drama of the nineteenth century
was deplorable.
The twentieth century showed a talent and produced a galaxy of
distinguished dramatists like John Galsworthy, Bernard Shaw, T. S. Eliot and
Christopher Fry, etc.
There is a rich tradition of drama in the U.S.A., Africa and India as well. In
lndia, there has been a long tradition of writing plays in English. Rabindranath
lagore translated many of his Bengali Plays into English.
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