A Short History Of The English Drama

... The Most Exhaustive And Important In Its Field... Thus, The Judgment Of An Outstanding 19Th Century Literary Figure (See Below On Ward S Masterly History Of English Dramatic Literature). It Is A Judgment That Has Stood Up Remarkably Well In The Passing Of Almost A Century Since The Work Was First Published. Students And Scholars Alike Will Find This Famous History An Invaluable Source Book On English Literature.Ward S Lucid Survey Starts With The Origin Of The Drama In England And The Beginnings Of Regular Drama. After An Excellent Account Of Shakespeare S Predecessors There Is A Long And Astute Section On Shakespeare Himself, Including A Discussion Of The Dramatist S Early Influence On The Continent, Especially In Germany. Volume Ii Also Covers Ben Jonson And The Later Elizabethans, Concluding With The Merits And Defects Of Beaumont And Fletcher. Volume Iii Ends The Work With An Examination Of The Later Stuart Drama When Prose Had Become Permanently The Vehicle Of Dramatic Speech In English Comedy And The Decay Of Tragedy. From An Early Review By Richard Burton In The Dial : ... The Work Is Beyond All Compare The Most Exhaustive And Important ... In Its Field .... When This Monument Of Scholarly Investigation Appeared, In 1874, It Was At Once Recognized As Authoritative, And Has Held The Position Ever Since.... Dr. Ward S Survey Of The Native Drama......Stands Alone Among Scholarly Achievements By Englishmen.The Prime Merit Of The Work, Aside From Thoroughness, Good Judgment In Ample Illustration, And The Deduction Of Sound Principles Therefrom, Lies In This Giving Of Due Attention To The History Of The Stage, While At The Same Time Keeping The Student To A Realization Of The Drama S Literary Splendors ... Drama In Its Technique As Well As In Its Imaginative Triumphs ... ... Take His Admirable Monograph (Vol. I, Chap. Iv) On Shakespeare .... It Would Be Difficult, Even In The Mass Of Similar Attempts, To Indicate Another Eighty Pages Which Tell So Much So Well, And Are So Little Open To Criticism... This Critic S Independence And Originality Of Thought Appear To Advantage In His Closing Remarks On The Tailend Of The Stuart Drama.

Excerpt from A Short History of the English Drama This book makes no special effort to be either original or profound. It aims simply to set forth in brief compass the main facts that one might wish to have at hand in his first course in the English Drama. The great revival of interest in this subject within recent years has produced many noteworthy studies, especially in the literature of the age of Elizabeth; but, singularly enough, most of the books that have been written have been for those who already knew most about the subject. The present work pre supposes only that the student has had an elementary col lege course in the history of English Literature, and with just so much as a basis it endeavors to assist him as he passes on to the study of the greatest of the forms that this literature has so far assumed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.