All for Love by John Dryden One of the Best Plays I've Read
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Read and Download Ebook All for Love... All for Love John Dryden PDF File: All for Love... 1 Read and Download Ebook All for Love... All for Love John Dryden All for Love John Dryden The age of Elizabeth, memorable for so many reasons in the history of England, was especially brilliant in literature, and, within literature, in the drama. With some falling off in spontaneity, the impulse to great dramatic production lasted till the Long Parliament closed the theaters in 1642; and when they were reopened at the Restoration, in 1660, the stage only too faithfully reflected the debased moral tone of the court society of Charles II. John Dryden (1631-1700), the great representative figure in the literature of the latter part of the seventeenth century, exemplifies in his work most of the main tendencies of the time. He came into notice with a poem on the death of Cromwell in 1658, and two years later was composing couplets expressing his loyalty to the returned king. He married Lady Elizabeth Howard, the daughter of a royalist house, and for practically all the rest of his life remained an adherent of the Tory Party. In 1663 he began writing for the stage, and during the next thirty years he attempted nearly all the current forms of drama. His "Annus Mirabilis" (1666), celebrating the English naval victories over the Dutch, brought him in 1670 the Poet Laureateship. He had, meantime, begun the writing of those admirable critical essays, represented in the present series by his Preface to the "Fables" and his Dedication to the translation of Virgil. In these he shows himself not only a critic of sound and penetrating judgment, but the first master of modern English prose style. All for Love Details Date : Published May 9th 2013 by Createspace (first published 1678) ISBN : 9781484916988 Author : John Dryden Format : Paperback 84 pages Genre : Plays, Drama, Classics, Poetry, Fiction, Romance Download All for Love ...pdf Read Online All for Love ...pdf Download and Read Free Online All for Love John Dryden PDF File: All for Love... 2 Read and Download Ebook All for Love... From Reader Review All for Love for online ebook Mitchell says Reading for book group. We are also looking at Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra as well as Plutarch's Life of Antony. It's obvious how Plutarch is the grandfather, Shakespeare the child and Dryden the grandchild. I found the differences between the two plays interesting. Shakespeare's is sprawling with high-flown emotion and intense character study, as you would expect. The Dryden looks to the tradition of Shakespeare but it is all toned down in its attempt to have the play observe the classic unities. The play really rockets forward to its climax and I imagine it would be very effective in live performance. Shakespeare's play is one of his greatest but it often strikes me as a great play to read and not a great play to see. The few performances of it that I have seen or heard have borne that out. Dryden's Cleopatra is a much diminished figure from Shakespeare's mercurial, emotional Queen. Both Antonys are men acknowledging the doom of their fate, but Dryden puts up more of a fight......... I'm glad to have had the opportunity to read all three pieces together. Rachel says In form and style Dryden's play is almost impeccable, adhering to Aristotlean conventions quite to the letter (whether that is for better or worse is rather for the individual reader to decide). But though in this coherent, thoroughly theatrical play there is much to be admired, particularly by actors and directors, it lacks the violent, irrepressible soul in Shakespeare's telling of this same story. In Dryden's measured scenes there are not the garishly bright lines of blank verse which, in Shakespeare, so fully express the essences of Antony and Cleopatra. In comparison to Shakespeare, Dryden cannot help but pale, though he pales in tasteful, clear style. Benjamin says The title of this book sounds a bit corny and hokey. And indeed, it is about the well-worn theme of illicit love that is doomed from the beginning. Nevertheless, the inherent lessons are timeless, and if the tale itself is well-worn it is also true that it has the same satisfying feeling as putting on a well-worn shoe. It somehow appeals to those longings of the human soul that have the capacity to bring a body to ruin. It is actually a play that takes place after the catastrophic defeat of Marc Antony's navy at the hands of young Gaius Octavius (later Ceasar Augustus). Marc Antony has retreated to the last safe haven of Cleopatra's Alexandria. What occurs in these last days and hours is a series of conversations between Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and various friends, family members, and servants as they all try to influence the course of action. Each player is compelling in dialogue, but as one reads the play, he gets the impression that fate will have its way regardless of the influential forces at work. Marc Antony plays the part of the doomed fool, and ultimately pays the doomed fool's price. PDF File: All for Love... 3 Read and Download Ebook All for Love... In my humble opinion the greatest dialogue of the play happens between Cleopatra and Octavia - Antony's estranged wife. They finally meet in an intense standoff - a battle for possession of a man. It has all the buildup of tension that one might expect from two armies about to come to blows. Here is a brief excerpt: Octavia: I need not ask if you are Cleopatra; Your haughty carriage- Cleopatra: Shows I am a queen; Nor need I ask you, who you are. Octavia: A Roman: A name, that makes and can unmake a queen. Cleo: Your lord, the man who serves me, is a Roman. Octav: He was a Roman, till he lost that name to be a slave in Egypt; but I come to free him thence. Cleo: Peace, peace, my lover's Juno. When he grew weary of that household clog, he chose my easier bonds. Octav: I wonder not your bonds are easy: you have long been practised in that lascivious art: He's not the first for whom you spread your snares... And on it goes. Octavia and Cleopatra are the real characters to follow in this play. If you hope for greatness from Marc Antony you will only find its potential and a lot of indecision. It makes the determination and certainty of Cleopatra and Octavia all the more heartbreaking since the object of their mutual affection is such a sadsack. I enjoyed this play. Perhaps I enjoyed it more than the average reader as I gave it four out of five stars and the average is only three out of five stars. But I like melodrama and I was certainly entertained by the read. I would love to see this play performed. So there's my two cents. Mira Jundi says I honestly enjoyed Shakespeare's version of Antony and Cleopatra more than Dryden's. He actually failed what he was aiming to do; passing a moral lesson. The result was absolutely the opposite. Breann says why rewrite Shakespeare when you can just read Shakespeare Sarah says Comparing poor Dryden with Shakespeare , definitely shakespeare is going to shine in contrast . If you want to read about sentimental love and romance this is the play for you BUT if you want to read an open debate then surely Shakespeare is your right guy. Neo-Classicism prevailed during the restoration age when Dryden wrote this play in 1667. At this time new theatres were built completely different from Shakespeare’s time . In Shakespeare’s time the most famous stage was The Globe Theatre it was a bare stage , round and surrounded by all the people which created this intimacy and interaction between the audience and the actors , they didn’t need lots of settings it was enough for an actor to jump on the stage saying to the audience: I am PDF File: All for Love... 4 Read and Download Ebook All for Love... in Athens . In contrast , the new theatre which is called Proscenium Arch where the audience face it only from one side , So they had to draw something in the background , they would create settings and tableaus on the stage , this somehow limited the dramatist in the way they wanted to move the action from one place to the other . Therefore, they preferred to narrow the focus as much as they could because it was difficult to change the background every while from Athens to Syria to Egypt back to Rome as in Shakespeare’s play. [image error] [image error] This play is supposed to be a Heroic Tragedy which deals with : 1- Ideal subject matter which is flexible to idealize like love , honour .so u find the main characters glorified as a god almost unlike Shakespeare where he shows you for example Antony as someone who has fraility , weakeness and points of strength. 2- Its purpose is teaching the corrupt upper classes and monarchies also to please them. He wanted to show them that women can be beautiful and loyal , because women in the Resoration age were not loyal because it is easy to have virtue when you are not beautiful . 3- It should have Heroic couplet and rhymed poetry , Dryden deviated from that and he wrote his play in free verse otherwise it would be to the extreme boring .