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196 ORTHOMETRY. |
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3. DRAMATIC BLANK VERSE. Shakspere.
With respect to dramatic verse very little consideration of what is requisite for effective stage representation is necessary to show that the utmost freedom and variety of treatment must be allowed in this species of composition. The verse is not the language of the poet, but of the characters whom he introduces upon the stage. Words of the deepest passion and pathos have to be altered at times, but without causing incongruity with the everyday surroundings of life. The poet sinks his own individuality altogether, while his puppets speak and act as real men and women do on the great world's stage. The dialogue, elevated and heroic as it must sometimes be, should also be natural and easily comprehended; hence involved constructions, and unusual inversions, and stilted diction are out of place. The natural order of words in a sentence ought not to be violated for the sake of metre beyond what would be deemed suitable in rhetorical oratory. The audience must readily grasp the sense of the words as they are uttered — there is no time for reflection. To accomplish all this the dramatist avails himself freely of every kind of poetic licence, already enumerated and illustrated, and, in true Bohemian spirit, trespasses the conventionalities of versification still further, whenever it suits his purpose. Such as: |
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