Literature &
Drama
M. Reber
© 6/27/2016
Literature & Drama
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Definitions
Similarities
Differences
Origins of Drama
Genres of Drama
Shakespeare and Genres of Drama
Modern Genres of Drama
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Literature Defined
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Written works, esp. those considered of superior
or lasting artistic merit: "a great work of
literature“.
The body of written works of a language, period,
or culture.
Imaginative or creative writing, especially of
recognized artistic value.
The body of written work produced by scholars
or researchers in a given field.
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Drama Defined
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A play for theater, radio, or television.
A prose or verse composition, especially one telling
a serious story, that is intended for representation
by actors impersonating the characters and
performing the dialogue and action.
a composition in prose or verse presenting in
dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or
contrast of character, especially one intended to be
acted on the stage; a play.
Drama is considered a sub-set of literature.
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Literature & Drama: Similarities
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Both are written down or recorded in some way.
Both have the basic elements of story telling: plot,
characters, themes, symbolism, etc.
Both are created with careful attention by the
author to meaning and interpretation
Both generally follow classic dramatic structure:
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Traditional Literature & Drama:
Differences
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Plays are limited by the capacity of an average audience
for sustained concentration (approx 2 hours + intermission)
 Dramas must unfold rapidly and should be interesting at all times
 A live audience can not easily take a break, the way a reader
can, if bored or sleepy, hungry, or need the restroom
 A live audience may be less forgiving of slow passages/portions
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Dramas must be comprehensible independent of
extended explanation
 Many dramas do not have a traditional narrator to give context
 The audience can not get into a character’s head unless their
thoughts are expressed thru dialogue, monologue, or soliloquy
 So the audience must infer meaning and motive from the speech
and action of the characters
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Traditional Literature & Drama:
Differences (cont.)
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Plays are limited not only by time, but by space
 All action must unfold on a physical stage, rather than in the
reader’s imagination
 The stage presents limitations: how many actors can be on the
stage at once, how many different locations can be illustrated
through sets and props, how well an audience can see, etc.
 The subject matter is rarely as broad and sweeping as a novel
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Traditional Literature & Drama:
Differences (cont.)
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The immediacy and economy of drama tends to evoke
an intensity and involvement of participation that other
literary arts rarely achieve
 Real, 3-dimensional human beings present the story in real time
 You can see the emotion on actor’s faces, you can witness
physical conflict, you may even get spit on!
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In literature, readers are free to actualize characters,
action, and meaning without an intermediary between
them and the author
In drama, the audience’s impression is always affected
by external interpretation since characters and themes
are actualized by a director and actors
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Origins of Drama
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The Greeks are credited with being the primary
originator of drama in the Western tradition
Greek drama traditionally consisted of six primary
elements: plot, character, thought, diction,
spectacle, and music
 Aristotle felt plot was the most important
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Both tragedy and comedy existed in the Greek
dramatic tradition, but tragedy was seen as more
ennobling
Aristotle’s Poetics is the earliest surviving work of
dramatic theory
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Genres of Drama: Tragedy
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According to Aristotle, in drama the incidents
arouse fear and pity to accomplish catharsis
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Catharsis is:
The strengths and flaws of the protagonist must
be factors contributing to the dramatic outcome
 The tragic hero with the tragic flaw
 Achilles’ heel
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Tragic characters must be noble (high-born and
exceptionally worthy, often noble)
They must have rare talents and abilities so that
the audience respects them and consequently
pities their losses
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Genres of Drama: Comedy
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Comedy is: “an imitation of men who are inferior, but not
altogether vicious.” –Aristotle
Comedy often has multiple plots weaving in and out of
each other for comedic effect, whereas drama, according
to Aristotle, should really have only one
Comedy often uses the conventions of disguise,
mistaken identity, mistaken objects, a fool, etc. to
increase comedic impact
Shakespeare’s comedies traditionally end with a
wedding and often invoke ambivalent feelings
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Genres of Drama: Historical Plays
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Some noteworthy historical period, act, or battle
is reenacted to educate audiences on important
events
Historical plays are often written for political or
propaganda purposes to increase feelings of
nationalism, patriotism, or allegiance to a ruler
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Shakespeare
and Genres of Drama
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Shakespeare wrote tragedies, comedies, & histories
Comedies
Histories
Tragedies
All’s Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
Comedy of Errors
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Measure for Measure
Merchant of Venice
Merry Wives of Windsor
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Taming of the Shrew
Tempest
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter’s Tale
Cymbeline
Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
Henry V
Henry VI, Part I
Henry VI, Part II
Henry VI, Part III
Henry VIII
King John
Pericles
Richard II
Richard III
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
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Hybrid Genres of Drama
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In addition to the three traditional genres, mixes
between dramas have existed since Greek times
Modern Drama is particularly fond of producing
tragicomedies, a mixture of tragedy and comedy
 Tragicomedy
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Gotthold Lessing defined it as a mixture of emotions in which
"seriousness stimulates laughter, and pain pleasure."
Tragicomedy shares an affinity with satire and "dark" comedy
and are often seen in modern absurdist drama.
Tragicomedy is a common genre in post-World War II British
theatre, with authors like Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard
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The Middle Ages – Old English:
Literary Style, Forms, and Genres
 Epic Style
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Characterized by elevated style and solemn, dignified tone (3)
Make use of “ironic understatement”
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A device in which actions and things are spoken of as less than they
really are to suggest that they are more—or perhaps other—than they
are (5)
 “They cared not for battle” the author of the Battle of Maldon says of cowardly
Englishmen who fled the fight (5)
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Creates intensity and heightens spiritual excitement
 Method of Delivery
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Epic poems were not written down, but were recited from memory—
most have been lost
Since Anglo-Saxons wrote nothing down until they were
Christianized, surviving poetry is rarely entirely pre-Christian in
composition or treatment
NOTE: The Greeks shared the literary tradition of the epic: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
have survived
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The Middle Ages – Old English:
Literary Style, Forms, and Genres
 Old English Religious Poetry
 Unlike epics, most surviving Old English
poetry is devoted to religious subjects
The majority of surviving Old English poetry
is Christian
 However, even overtly religious poetry has
characteristics of the pre-Christian heroic
mode and values
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Moses, Christ, and God the Father share the attributes of
Beowulf and are represented as heroes performing
famous deeds (4)
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The Middle Ages – Old English:
Literary Style, Forms, and Genres
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In addition to heroic and Christian poetry, other
forms of writing flourished during this period
 Highly literate churchmen wrote prose pieces, often in
Latin, such as religious histories
 Alfred, king of the West Saxons from 871 to 899, was
an enthusiastic patron of literature who
 Himself translated various works from Latin,
including Boethius’ 6th C. Roman work Consolation
of Philosophy
 And had other important works translated into OldEnglish from Latin
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The Middle Ages – Old English:
Major Authors and Works
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Anglo-Saxon Epic
 Beowulf
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The greatest of Germanic epics
Contains much evidently pre-Christian material
Authored by a Christian and refers to Old Testament events
 Illustrates how the pagan, Germanic heroic mode
apapted to Christianity and vice verse.
Religious Poetry
 Caedmon’s Hymn
 The Wanderer and the Seafarer
 Battle of Maldon
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The Middle Ages – Old English:
Art Beyond Literature
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Music
 c. 1810: Gregorian plain chant (cantus planus) is
obligatory in Charlemagne’s churches
 822: Earliest documented church organ
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Art
 8th-9th C.: Irish Book of Kells
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Overview:
The Middle Ages – Middle English
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Historical Context
Social and Cultural Norms
Literary Style, Forms, and Genres
Major Authors and Works
Art beyond Literature
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