CHAPTER XII

THE INFLUENCE OF ELIZABETHAN DRAMA AND THE ELIZABETHAN SONNET ON THE RISE OF MODERN ROMANTICISM

The influence of Shakespeare on the rise of modern romanticism was less than might at first sight be expected. The love of his drama kept alive the romantic spirit on the stage from the days of Betterton down to those of the Kembles. Nicholas Rowe, the devoted Shakespearean scholar, wrote dramas with a genuine romantic spirit between 1700 and 1715, but on the whole the influence of Shakespeare was rather of a general nature than specifically romantic. His versification influenced Young and Blair, but the bulk of eighteenth century blank verse is Miltonic. Shakespeare's influence on modern romanticism fell below Milton's, or even Spenser's. There are in most poets echoes of the diligence with which the century read Shakespeare's works, but the influence of his verse did not divide the century into two camps, as did that of Milton, and, to a less extent, that of Spenser. The work of Shakespeare was of too comprehensive and universal a quality to become the peculiar badge of any literary coterie.

The attitude of the ages of Dryden and Pope towards Shakespeare is of a threefold nature. There were those whose position was wholly hostile, mainly because they condemned the stage and dramatic poetry altogether; there were those who gave him unstinted praise. Between these two extremes were the apathetic, whose attitude was

one of indifference. We shall illustrate the first two positions by one or two contemporary opinions.

In the eyes of Samuel Pepys "The Tempest” had “no great wit" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" was "the most insipid and ridiculous play". Nevertheless Pepys witnessed thirty-six performances of twelve of Shakespeare's plays between October 1660 and February 1668. Pepys joined theoretical condemnation to practical appreciation. Thomas Rymer condemned Shakespeare altogether in "The Tragedies of the Last Age" (1692), the most serious attack on the Elizabethan stage. Rymer promised to examine six plays, viz.,Fletcher's 'Rollo', 'King or no King', and 'Maid's Tragedy', Shakespeare's 'Othello' and 'Julius Caesar', and Ben Jonson's 'Catiline', as well as Milton's 'Paradise Lost', 'which some are pleased to call a poem'. But he confined his attention to the first three of the plays only. He returned to the attack on 'Othello' in 'A Short View of Tragedy: its Original Excellency and Corruption, with some Reflections on Shakespeare and other Practitioners for the Stage' (1693). In Rymer's eyes 'Othello' was ‘a bloody farce without salt or savour' 1).

In discussing this plays, he says:

"In the Neighing of a horse, or in the Growling of a Mastiff, there is a meaning, there is as lively expression, and may I say, more humanity, than many times in the tragical flights of Shakespeare?" 2)

And again:

"There is not a monkey but understands Nature better; not a Pug in Barbary that has not a truer taste of things." ")

The number of admiring references far surpasses that of the unfavourable criticisms. Of all the tributes to Shake

1) p. 146.

2) p. 95.
3) p. 114.

speare the most generous and noble is to be found in John Dryden's prologue to his "Tempest or the Enchanted Isle":

"Shakespeare, who (taught by none) did first impart
To Fletcher Wit, to labouring Jonson, Art

If they have since outwrit all other men,

'Tis with the drops which fell from Shakespeare's pen.
The Storm which vanish'd on the Neighb'ring shore
Was taught by Shakespear's Tempest first to roar.
That innocence and beauty which did smile
In Fletcher, grew on this enchanted Isle.
But Shakespear's Magick could not copy'd be
Within that Circle none durst walk but he".

For the many allusions to Shakespeare in the ages of Dryden and Pope we must refer to the standard commentaries. We subjoin an instructive criticism contained in Cuthbert Constable's hitherto unpublished manuscript of "An Essay Towards a New English Dictionary" (1720) 1)

"We ought to follow Shakespear and Fletcher in their plots so far only as they have copy'd the excellencies of those who invented and brought to perfection dramatic poetry."

"The Art of Poetry had been better prais'd than study'd here in England, wherein Shakespear who created the Stage among us, had rather written happily, than knowingly and justly.

'Tis almost a miracle that Shakespear who began dramatic poetry amongst us, untaught by any and as Ben Johnson tells us, without learning, should by the force of his own genius perform so much, that in a manner he has left no praise for any that come after him."

"Shakespear first invented blank verse into which the English tongue so naturally slides that in writing prose

1) The quotations are taken from Messrs. Maggs Bros. Catalogue of Shakespeare Books (1923).

'tis hardly to be avoided, and therefore I admire some men should perpetually stumble in a way so easie. The great easiness of blank verse, renders the Poet too luxuriant; he is tempted to say many things, which might better be omitted, or at least shut up in fewer words. Spencer's verses are so numerous, so various, and so harmonious, that only Virgil, whom he perfectly imitated, has surpass'd him, among ye Romans; and only Waller among the English. Neither will I justifie Milton for his blank verse, tho' I may excuse him, by the example of Hannibal Caro, and other Italians, who have us'd it; for what ever causes he alledges for the abolishing of Rhyme (which I have not now the leisure to examine) his own particular reason is plainly this, that Rhime was not his talent, he had neither the ease of doing it nor the graces of it; which is manifest in his Juvenilia, or verses writ in his youth; where his Rhime is always constrain'd and forc'd, and comes hardly from him at an age when the soul is most pliant; and the passion of love, makes almost every man a Rhimer."

Cuthbert Constable was a celebrated antiquary and accomplished scholar. His criticisms display an attitude towards Shakespeare, Milton and blank verse, which is often supposed to be the common, or even only attitude of the age. We have seen that there were plenty of men of a different opinion.

In the days of Dryden and Pope many admired Shakespeare for his specifically romantic qualities. To this extent Shakespeare helped to keep the Elizabethan romantic tradition alive. To give an instance, Robert Gould in his "Poems, chiefly consisting of Satyrs and Satyrical Epistles" (1689) has the following interesting summary of the romantic side of Shakespeare's verse in "A Satyr against the Playhouse":

"But, if in what's sublime you take delight,
Lay Shakespeare, Ben, and Fletcher in your sight,
Where Human Actions are with Life exprest,
Vertue extoll'd, and vice as much deprest.
There the kind Lovers modestly complain,
So passionate, you see their inmost pain,
Pity and wish their Love not placed in vain.
There Wit and Art, and Nature you may see
In all their statliest Dress and Bravery.
None e'er yet wrote, or e'er will write again,
So lofty things in such a Heavenly strain!
Whene'er I Hamlet or Othello read,

My hair stands up, and my Nerves shrink with dread,
Pity and fear raise my concern still higher,

Till, betwixt the two, I'm ready to expire!
When cursed Iago, cruelly, I see
Work up the noble Moore to Jealousie,
How cunningly the villain weaves his sin,
And how the other takes the Poisin in;
Or when I hear his God-like Romans rage,
And by what just degrees he does asswage
Their fiery temper, recollect their Thoughts.

Make 'em both weep, make 'em both own their Faults.
When these and other such-like scenes I scan

'Tis then, great Soul, I think thee more than Man!

Homer was blind, yet could all Nature see;

Thou wert unlearned, yet knew as much as He!

In Timon, Lear, the Tempest, we may find

Vast Images of thy unbounded mind;
These have been altered by our Poets now,
And with success too, that we must allow;
Third days they get when part of thee is shown
Which they but seldom do when all's their own.”

Rowe, editor and first biographer of Shakespeare (1709), refers to Shakespeare's fairies, witches and ghosts as follows:

"But certainly the greatness of this author's genius do's no where so much appear, as where he gives his imagination an entire loose, and raises his fancy to a flight above mankind and the limits of the visible world