beneath
the apparent pessimism. Here were, it was evident, new material, new
method and a new insistence upon intellectual values in the theater. It
can now be seen plainly enough that Ibsen's influence upon the drama of
the nineteenth century is commensurate in revolutionary results with
that of Shakespeare in the sixteenth. He gave the play a new and
improved formula for play-writing; and he showed that the theater could
be used as an arena for the discussion of vital questions of the day.
Even in France, the one country where dramatic development has been
steadily important for nearly three centuries, his influence has been
considerable; in other European lands, as in England, his genius has
been a pervasive force. Whether he will or no, the typical modern
dramatist is a son of Ibsen, in that he has adopted the Norwegian's
technic and taken the function of playwright more seriously than before.

Both with regard to intellectual values and technic, then, it is no
exaggeration to speak of the modern drama, although it be an expression
of the spirit of the time in reflecting social evolution, as bearing the
special hallmark of Ibsen's influence. A word follows on the varied and
vital accomplishment of the present period.

CHAPTER V

THE MODERN SCHOOL

We have noted that Ibsen's plays began to get a hearing in England in
the eighteen nineties. In fact, it was in 1889 that Mr. J. T. Grein had
the temerity to produce at his Independent Theater in London _A Doll's
House_, and followed it shortly afterward by the more drastic _Ghosts_.
The influence in arousing an interest in and knowledge of a kind of
drama which entered the arena for the purpose of social challenge and
serious satiric attack was incalculable. Both Jones and Pinero,
honorable pioneers in the making of the new English drama, and still
actively engaged in their profession, had begun to write plays some
years before this date; but it may be believed that the example of
Ibsen, if not originating their impulse, was part of the encouragement
to let their own work reflect more truthfully the social time spirit
and to study modern character types with closer observation, allowing
their stories to be shaped not so much by theatric convention as by
honest psychologic necessity.

Jones began with melodrama, of which _The Silver King_ (1882), _Saints
and Sinners_ (1884) and _The Middle Man_ (1889) are examples; Pinero
with ingenious farces happily associ