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Drama
(4,283 words)

1. Theoretical foundations of poetics

1.1. Concept

The Greek dráma from which the word drama descends is a derivation of the (Dorian) verb dran (“to do”, “to act”, “to effect with the body”). Greek Antiquity already used the term in genre typology to denote both tragedy and comedy, which differed from the other genres, such as the lyric poem, the epic, and the history, by the dominance of action portrayed by characters: Aristotle in his Poetics (Perí poiētikḗs, c. 335 BCE) defined dramas as …

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Arend, Stefanie, “Drama”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_018426>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170626



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