POETRY AND IMAGINATION 



of Portugal without a son the way was opened for 



the Spanish claim, and the attention of King Philip was 



for years diverted from his intended invasion of England. 



Stukeley's romantic career was subsequently dramatised 



for the London public in Peele's Battle of Alcazar, 



A career like this serves to show how the life of ^^^ ^^^ 

 • 1 • '-r>i 1 • rr i World and 



the age acted on its literature. 1 he diirerences between jiomantk 



the Romantic drama of England and the Classic drama literature, 

 of France can never be understood while the question 

 is treated only as a conflict between two literary schools. 

 It is true that France, by position, history, and train- 

 ing, was from the first more under the influence of 

 classic literature and ancient theory than ever England 

 had been. But in England, too, when the drama began 

 its course, the partisans of the classical doctrine were 

 first in the field, and made the bravest start. Then 

 the new interests arose, and overwhelmed them. The 

 echoes of ancient wisdom and shadows of ancient beauty 

 which held the attention of France were drowned and 

 scattered in England by loud voices and fierce lights. 

 Extravagant deeds filled the popular imagination, and 

 could not, by any legerdemain of pedantry, be brought 

 within the prescribed critical compass. If the dramatists 

 refused allegiance to the rules, they were merely following 

 the lead of the adventurers. The fatalism of Greek 

 Tragedy, where the end is known before the beginning, 

 could give no real pleasure to a people intoxicated with 

 the delights of surprise, and intolerant of all limitation. 

 In a world where anything may happen, the fairy-story 

 or the romance of adventure is the safest literary model. 



The best exemplar of the new style is Marlowe, Marlowe and 

 whose Tamhurlaine set the fashion followed by Greene 



I03 



