Murder in the Cathedral: The Plot of Diction

Abstract

IT IS PERHAPS not so much that we argue over the signification of poetic drama as that we use the term rather indiscriminately. Ronald Peacock distinguishes "at least three major current meanings of 'poetic'" in regard to drama: "a text in verse," "the romantically poetic, and this refers rather to certain themes and attitudes irrespective of verse or prose forms," and "lyrical and musical style, primarily in verse, but also in prose.” Denis Donoghue notes, moreover, that in poetic drama, verse drama, dramatic verse, and dramatic poetry "we have a generous supply of terms, yet we confuse our speech by blurring their outlines." Certainly it is not hard to agree with Robert B. Heilman that "a play written in poetic form is simply not the same kind of literary work as a play written in prose," but it is less easy to find agreement on what "a play written in poetic form" is.