Vol.1 (05) - The Hidden Beauty in Heroic Plays

The Hidden Beauty in Heroic Plays

Ferrick Gray

Snippets

Volume 1, Issue 5

The center of discussion for this essay is that of the Heroic Play. Most people would never have heard of this type of play let alone have read one. The device used in this type of play is the heroic couplet which today would seem a very strange form to use for a drama of any description. Many of us would dismiss those plays as pure nonsense, yet no matter how absurd they may be to us now, they were immensely popular and much requested during their day.

Vol.1 (03) - Pondering “Burnt Norton”

Pondering “Burnt Norton”

Ferrick Gray

Working with Eliot

Volume 1, Issue 3

Prefatory Remarks

What follows my thoughts about the first five verses of Eliot’s Burnt Norton from his Four Quartets. Clearly there is a philosophical meaning to them (and other parts of the poem) and my aim here is to determine if they make sense.

Eliot’s poetry can at times be quite obscure to the general reader, and it is up to the reader as to what they take away after reading his work. There may be allusions to other events which the reader is not familiar with, but Eliot makes no apologies for this.

Vol.2 (13) - The Stanza: Its Meaning and Use

The Stanza

Its Meaning and Use

Ferrick Gray

Poetically Speaking

Volume 2, Issue 13

No doubt you have heard the word stanza used with reference to the way a poem has been set out or constructed. The use of the word stanza is quite common in formal poetry, but the term is used very loosely in the vers libre. What we find in vers libre is more commonly referred to as a strophe. Stanza refers to the halt at the end of it, having the same derivation as stand or standing place (Italian). The strophe has a different meaning of a turning which is more appropriate in the vers libre.

Vol.1 (04) - Restoration Comedy

Restoration Comedy

1660 — 1720

Bonamy Dobrée

Oxford At the Clarendon Press 1924

Ferrick Gray

Snippets

Volume 1, Issue 4

This book by Dobrée is one of those which is quite easy to read and understand. Even though today we may not be familiar with some of the writers he speaks about, it is still a very entertaining and informative book. This was his first published book and was in 1924. In this case his area of interest was Restoration comedy of the period 1660 to 1720.

Rather than propose any specific theory, Dobrée takes the reader through a lively excursion of the work of seven playwrights in this period of about sixty years. The playwrights he discusses in terms of their plays are Etherege, Wycherley, Dryden, Shadwell, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar.