s it were side by side, though by no means always
judging eye to eye, have vitally influenced the whole course of modern
dramatic literature in the direction of a fearlessly candid and close
delineation of human nature. The lesser of the pair in inventive genius,
and in the power of exhibiting with scornful defiance the conflict
between soul and circumstance, but the stronger by virtue of the
conviction of hope which lies at the root of achievement, is
Bjurnson.[321] Ibsen's long career as a dramatist exhibits a succession
of many changes, but at no point any failure in the self-trust of his
genius. His early masterpieces were dramatic only in form.[322] His
world-drama of _Emperor and Galilean_ was still unsuited to a stage
rarely trodden to much purpose by idealists of Julian's type. The
beginnings of his real and revolutionary significance as a dramatist
date from the production of his first plays of contemporary life, the
admirable satirical comedy _The Pillars of Society_ (1877), the subtle
domestic drama _A Doll's House_ (1879), and the powerful but repellent
_Ghosts_ (1881),[323] which last, with the effects of its appearance,
modern dramatic literature may even to this day be said to have failed
altogether to assimilate. Ibsen's later prose comedies--(verse, he
writes, has immensely damaged the art of acting, and a tragedy in
iambics belongs to the species Dodo)--for the most part written during
an exile which accounts for the note of isolation so audible in many of
them, succeeded one another at regular biennial intervals, growing more
and more abrupt in form, cruel in method, and intense in elemental
dramatic force. The prophet at last spoke to a listening world, but
without the amplitude, the grace and the wholeheartedness which are
necessary for subduing it. But it may be long before the art which he
had chosen as the vehicle of his comments on human life and society
altogether ceases to show the impress of his genius.

j. _Drama of the Slav Peoples._

Polish.

As to the history of the Slav drama, only a few hints can be here given.
Its origins have not yet--at least in works accessible to Western
students--been authoritatively traced. The Russian drama in its earliest
or religious beginnings is stated to have been introduced from Poland
early in the 12th century; and, again, it would seem that, when the
influence of the Renaissance touched the east of Europe, the religious
drama was cultivated in Pol