Greek Lyric Tragedy in Dramas of Swinburne E7 
No solution is given for this problem of life. Man can only 
endure sturdily, steadfastly. He must accept what is and seek 
relief in great-heartedness, courage and freedom of spirit. He 
should have the ewpsychia of Euripides,®** “stout heartedness, 
pluck in the noblest sense of the word—that temper of soul which 
prepared the individual to sacrifice himself for the state and to 
triumph in pain or death in dogged endurance rather than give 
way to feebler instincts.” 
This is the fortifying motive of much of Swinburne’s poetry. 
Mr. L. C. Wilcox summarizes the poet’s teaching in this sen- 
tence :** “ Who endures to the end, who makes no compromise 
with truth, who asks no reward and fears no punishments, shall 
come somehow to truth and liberty, and shall grow into knowl- 
edge of the things of the spirit.” 
It remains to see whether the “unities” were observed in 
Swinburne’s plays. It has been seen that all the action was 
carried on in the presence of the chorus. As said before, the 
members of the chorus serve as sympathetic spectators. Thus 
the chorus is the main factor in keeping the action of the play 
within the ‘“unities.’”” No scene can be presented that cannot 
take place before the chorus, and no incident be depicted that 
would be outside of their knowledge. In this respect both Ata- 
lanta in Calydon and Erechtheus conform strictly to the Greek 
observance of “tunities.” In each play there is but one story. 
All details are subordinated to working out this plot before the 
chorus. So too the “unities” of time and of place are carefully 
observed. In both plays the action takes place before the palace 
of the king. Whatever of the plot cannot be presented there is 
described by messengers. The whole action is supposed to take 
place in the space of a morning. Thus both plays represent one 
continuous scene, given with fixed limits of time and place. 
The action of each play develops to a climax from an opening 
situation, described by narrative. The long prologue, given in 
63 Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets, Vol. II, p. 38. 
64 The Fortifying Principle in Swinburne. L. C. Wilcox, North Amer- 
ican Review, Vol. 190, pp. 93-100. 
357 
