Revival of Poetic Drama in the Modernism
Introduction to Poetic Drama In the twentieth century, there has been a resurgence of poetic drama. Notable poets like Yeats and Eliot contributed significantly to this revival. This movement was a reaction against the prose plays of Shaw and others, which lacked emotional depth and moral engagement. Yeats and the Return to Tradition Yeats opposed the harsh criticism of liberal ideas by revolutionary dramatists like Shaw . He believed that past civilizations had higher traditions than the contemporary era. The drama of ideas was failing to capture the essence of the age, while the drama of entertainment was becoming uninteresting. There was a need for a revival of realistic drama infused with fresh perspectives. The 1930s and 1940s Revival Efforts During the 1930s and 1940s, poets attempted to revive the tradition of poetic drama that had been dormant since the Restoration period. This revival had a closer connection with the authors' religious beliefs and social attitudes than most prose dra…