Action and Poetry in Racine’s Tragedies (1960)

Abstract

Who does not recall the brilliant case, so persuasive and so disturbing, made by the Abbé Bremond in favour of Racine the ‘pure poet’? ‘Being at once a poet and a dramatist,’ he says, ‘two claims, the pure and the impure, dispute his allegiance; onward! cry the rules of drama, semper ad eventum festina; while poetry would have him hover in all but motionless flight. Martha and Mary, action and contemplation, discourse and melody. Should he let himself become absorbed by the progress of the plot, his inner lyrical gift will soon fail; but this lyricism will keep the action from advancing. He must then satisfy each of the two claims — advance and hover at the same time, bustle with Martha, and yet not interrupt the contemplation of Mary. A programme impossible, if not absurd. Yet Racine has carried it out, and seemingly without trying.’