(H) THE POETIC PLAY ~ Literary Hunt

(H) The Poetic Play

It is a special type of play which is basically different from the normal stage-play. It is also called Lyrical play or Closet drama. It is so-called because it is really a long poem cast into the dramatic form. Basically, it is different from the normal stage play since a normal play requires complex external paraphernalia such as a theatre, a stage, actors, and audience, and its success depends upon its performance on the stage. Against it, the poetic play is complete in itself. It can be read and enjoyed by the reader in his own closet or study-room without any external aid. The reader can enjoy it all by himself as he can enjoy an epic or a novel.
It is normally written in blank-verse. It is generally written on some classical, mythological or legendary theme. The poetic plays came to be written in the Romantic Age. The principal writers of the poetic plays were practical all the Romantic poets including Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron and later on Tennyson and Browning.

Important Poetic Playe and Their Writers Writer

Sn.No	Writer	Title of the Poetic Play
1	William Wordsworth	The Borderers
2	S.T Coleridge	Remorse; A Christmas Tale
3	Walpole	Mysterious Mother
4	Walter Scott	The House of Aspen; Macduff's Cross or Holidon Hill
5	George Colman	The Surrender of Calais; The Battle of Hexam; The Iron Chest
6	Keats	Otho the Great
7	Robert Southey	The Fall of Robespierre
8	Lord Byron	Werner; Manfred; Marino Faliero; Saradanapalus; Cain; The Deformed Transformed; Heaven and Earth
9	Shelley	The Cenci; Prometheus Unbound; Hellas; Oedipus Tyrannus
10	Leigh Hunt	The Legend of Florence
11	Miss Mitford	Julian; Rienzi
12	Robert Browning	Strafford; Pippa Passes; King Victor and King Charles; The Return of the Druses; Colombe's Birthday
13	Tennyson	Queen Mary; The Falcon; The Cup; The Promise of May; Harold; Becket; The Foresters
14	Matthew Arnold	Empedocles on Etna
15	Swinburne	Rosamund and the Queen Mother; Mary Stuart; Atlanta in Calydon

OBJECTIVE TYPE OF QUESTIONS

1. Empedocles on Aetna is written by:

(a) Tennyson

(b) Byron

(d) Swinburne

2.The Poetic play Cenci is written by:

(a) John Keats

(b) Robert Southey

(d) Shelly

3.Who is the author of The Fall of Robespierre?

(a) John Keats

(b) Robert Southey

(d) Shelley

4.Tennyson wrote the following play

(a) Mary Stuart

(b) Atlanta in Calydon

(d) Queen Mary

5.Why is a Poetic play so-called ?

(a) Because it is meant to be read as a poem,

and not to be acted

(b) Because it is written only by a poet

(d) Because it has a very high poetic imagery

6.Shelley took the theme for his Prometheus

unbound from a play on the same theme

written by a Greek dramatist. Who was that

Greek dramatist?

(a) Euripides

(b) Sophocles

(d) None of these

7.One of the following Poetic plays is written by

Byron. Which of the 'following ?

(a) The Iran Chest

(b) Remorse

(d) Hellas

8. ...............is the author of the Poetic play

Borderers ?

(a) Wordsworth

(b) Tennyson

(d) Matthew Arnold

9. One of the following plays is not written by

Tennyson. Which one ?

(a) The Foresters

(b) Queen Mary

(d) Empedocies on Aetna

10. Poetic plays become popular :

(a) In the Restoration and Augustan Age

(b) In the Romantic and Victorian Age

(d) In the Elizabethan and Caroline Age

11. Atlanta in Calydon is written by :

(a)Miss Mitford

(b)Swinburne

(d) Leigh Hunt

12. Seven Spirits act as characters in one of the

following plays. In which of the following

plays ?

(a) Walpole's Mysterious Mother

(b) Byron's Manfred

(d) Tennyson's Foresters

13. Coleridge's A Christmas Tale is written in

imitation of one of Shakespeare's Romances.

Which of the following ?

(a) Cymbeline

(b) The Winter's tale

(d) Pericles

(H) THE POETIC PLAY

Related Post