vents linked together by the law
of cause and effect and marching forward toward a predestined
culmination,--each event exhibiting imagined characters performing imagined
acts in an appropriate imagined setting. This definition applies, of
course, to the epic, the ballad, the novel, the short-story, and all other
forms of narrative art, as well as to the drama.

But the phrase "devised to be presented" distinguishes the drama sharply
from all other forms of narrative. In particular it must be noted that a
play is not a story that is written to be read. By no means must the drama
be considered primarily as a department of literature,--like the epic or
the novel, for example. Rather, from the standpoint of the theatre, should
literature be considered as only one of a multitude of means which the
dramatist must employ to convey his story effectively to the audience. The
great Greek dramatists needed a sense of sculpture as well as a sense of
poetry; and in the contemporary theatre the playwright must manifest the
imagination of the painter as well as the imagination of the man of
letters. The appeal of a play is primarily visual rather than auditory. On
the contemporary stage, characters properly costumed must be exhibited
within a carefully designed and painted setting illuminated with
appropriate effects of light and shadow; and the art of music is often
called upon to render incidental aid to the general impression. The
dramatist, therefore, must be endowed not only with the literary sense, but
also with a clear eye for the graphic and plastic elements of pictorial
effect, a sense of rhythm and of music, and a thorough knowledge of the
art of acting. Since the dramatist must, at the same time and in the same
work, harness and harmonise the methods of so many of the arts, it would be
uncritical to centre studious consideration solely on his dialogue and to
praise him or condemn him on the literary ground alone.

It is, of course, true that the very greatest plays have always been great
literature as well as great drama. The purely literary element--the final
touch of style in dialogue--is the only sure antidote against the opium of
time. Now that Aeschylus is no longer performed as a playwright, we read
him as a poet. But, on the other hand, we should remember that the main
reason why he is no longer played is that his dramas do not fit the modern
theatre,--an edifice totally different in size and shape and physical
appo