Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 10 text:

BUJEHH STEPS IN THE DEN ELOPMEWT OF THE DRAMA HEX we approach the study of the drama we must begln by remmdln ourselves that thls art drd not orlglnate ln the falr countrles whlch now use lt to perfectron but ID the anclent country of Greece The word drama IS of Creek derlvatxon comma from the word Spau dran to act The first trace of wrltten drama was found ln Greece and arose as part of the perxodxc celebratlon of DIOHYSIUS the god of wlne Thus as early as the fourth century we find the drama ln a class of its own From the days of ancient Greece until today the evolutlon of the drama has been very slow but as we look back on the Greek dramas we are entitled to feel that we have taken a long step ln advance durlng the slow wearmg away of the years There have been four perlods when the drama has rlsen to supreme helghts The hrst of course was ln Greece when Aeschylus and Sophocles and their contemporarles were the representative writers of drama Wlth the Greeks both the comedy and the tragedy developed around the life of their wine god lmpersonated by choruses of men clad ln goat skms whence probably comes the word tragedy literally meaning goat or goatskms But soon this crude way was replaced by Thespls who Introduced an actor to fill the intervals of actlng with stories and mlmlcry ln a short tlme two actors were used and finally a thlrd made his appearance Later more serious per formances came to be llmlted to the sadder parts of Dxonyslus s lxfe and to the famnlxar stones of Creek mythology Then prnze dramatrc contests were included ln honor of the god and thus the further development of the tragedy was contrlved A tragedy m general was made up of a serles of episodes sep arated by lyrical passages sung by the choruses the whole of whlch was Introduced by the prologue and termmated by the exode The second period was the Ellzabethan perlod when Marlowe Shakes peare and ohnson towered aloft as dramatlsts leading the way to the perfec tlon of the drama Wrltlng ln this perlod was dlsheartenmg but through perslstence and the show of gemus the dramatlsts of thls age made their names go down m the hlstory of literature and also made thelr country re nowned and famous Each of the outstandmg Elizabethan writers revealed the lyrical rlchness of the tlmes The thlrd period was nn France when Mollere followed by Cornellle and preceded by Racine made the period famous with dramatic productions He contributed much to the advancement of his times by Introducing the sollloquy for general use ln the drama The drama of the French period contained ln general touches of the frlvollty of the court and the folly of the court llfe ln France but behind this might often be seen the gravity of polntncal affairs Qu f , r A . . o' 3 y . - . .. .- an ' ' ' , . , - n y 1 , v v v - 1 ' ' . . . . . . r Q y - , . . .. .- , - .I v ' 9 , - . . . ., . v , . ,

Page 9 text:

1 U?

Page 11 text:

BWEIHE We may add as the fourth period France again in the middle of the nineteenth century with Victor Hugo and Dumas Thus we have a brief sketch of the drama from its birth to the present day in its latest stage of development Each of these superb periods has its own characterlstics and each will reward the detailed study devoted to it ln regard to the construction of the drama there has also been Variety ln the ancient Greek times attention was paid to the unltles of place of time and of action The first dealt with the scenes and the changing of the scenes The second required that all events of the play must occur within the same day and the third or unity of action demanded that the incidents of the play should converge upon the development of a slngle plot ln the anclent drama it was difficult to avoid unity of place since there was no p0SSllJlllty of a change in scene thus it was rigorously maintained Unity of time was rendered almost equally necessary by the presence of the chorus throughout the play which was absurd if the plot was carried over long intervals of time What is called unity of action however is simply an application of impresslon in the work of any art but only when subordinate to the last unity did those of time and place demand consideration adherence of the older drama 'lhe introduction of many of the mechanical improvements such as scenery and lighting render the unity of place qulte un necessary Development of greater ability in the matter of costumrng and artificial aids to characterization make the unity of time quite as unessentlal All of this allows greater latitude for expression of the basic facts of the plot wlthout interference from rather mmor factors such as setting The gradual development of the sub plot in harmonious relation to the mam plot has de tracted from the Importance of unity of action From the ancient tragedy has arisen a milder form of drama to amuse rather than entertain in a more serious way This came to be known as the comedy While we of today appreciate the wonder of the tragedy and while It arouses sympathy for the deeper suffering of human nature we are entertained most by the comedy which explolts the follies and the absurdities of the ridiculous Throughout both classes of drama the thread of mild satire may be traced in our modern works and whether lt serves to relieve the tenseness of the tragedy plot or to heighten the absurdity of the charac ters ln the comedy it may be found In either pure or adulterated form We say we are modern even to our arts but should we trace back through the epochs of time we would find that most of our modernlsms are derived from some ancient form or custom of which the drama serves as an example DOROTHYROHLHNC Settn , , , . . . . , . y . 9 . I - 3- s , . , ln the modern drama these unities are not characterized by the rigid . ' . . ' . . - - , , . Q . . , . . . , ,