A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. While all plays can be read as literature without being performed, closet dramas are designed especially for reading and do not concern themselves with stage technique. Featuring little action but mostly philosophical rhetoric, they are rarely produced for the stage, though this does happen on occasion. Romeo and Juliet by Ford Madox Brown A play, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialog between characters, and intended for performance rather than reading. ... Romeo and Juliet by Ford Madox Brown A play, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialog between characters, and intended for performance rather than reading. ...

The philosophical dialogues of ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Plato were written in the form of conversations between "characters" and are therefore similar to closet drama. In fact, it is speculated that Plato based his dialogue form on scripts for mime farces, if they existed as early as the fourth century. (The earliest extant mimes date to the Alexandrian period). This article belongs in one or more categories. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... This article is about Mime as an art form. ... This article is about the city in Egypt. ...

The tragedies of Seneca in the first century AD, though modelled on Greek tragedy, were probably never meant for performance. They were intended to be read or recited at small gatherings of the wealthy [1]. The emperor Nero, a pupil of Seneca's, may have performed some of them, however. Some of the drama of the Middle Ages was also of this type, such as the drama of Hroswitha of Gandersheim, or dialectical works such as The Debate of Body and Soul or the Interludium de Clerico et Puella. In general usage a tragedy is a play, movie or sometimes a real world event with a sad outcome. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... Nero[1] Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 – June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (54–68). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Hrosvit Hrosvit, also known as Hroswitha, Hrotsvit, and Hroswitha of Gandersheim, (c. ...

Closet drama has been practiced even in eras when stage drama was at its height. Fulke Greville wrote closet dramas in the age of Shakespeare and Jonson. Claims for Margaret Cavendish as the first woman dramatist in English have been disputed on the grounds that she was only a closet dramatist, and not a real working playwright like Aphra Behn. Thomas Killigrew is an example of a stage playwright who turned to closet drama when his plays could no longer be produced (he was in exile from England during the English Civil War). John Milton's play Samson Agonistes, written in 1671, is another example of Early modern drama never intended for the stage. This article is about the Elizabethan author. ... Margaret Cavendish Segment of Frontispiece from The Blazing World The Blazing World Portrait Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-15 December 1673), was an English aristocrat and a prolific writer. ... A sketch of Aphra Behn by George Scharf from a portrait believed to be lost. ... Thomas Killigrew (1612 - March 19, 1683), was an English dramatist. ... The English Civil War consisted of a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads) and Royalists (known as Cavaliers) between 1642 and 1651. ... For other persons named John Milton, see John Milton (disambiguation). ... An Etching of Samson, from an 1882 German Bible Samson Agonistes (Greek: Samson the agonist) is a work of blank verse tragedy by John Milton. ... Events May 9 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. ... The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies, between the Middle Ages and modern society. ...

Closet drama written in verse form became very popular in Western Europe after 1800; these plays were by and large inspired by Classical models. Faust, Part 1 and Faust, Part 2 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among the most acclaimed pieces in the history of German literature, were written as closet dramas. Nonetheless, both plays are often performed onstage today in Germany and France. Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as a host of other figures, also devoted much time to the closet drama. The genre also influenced other forms of literature and theatre; the portions of Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick that are in dialogue form are at least a casual allusion to closet drama. Some of the poems of William Butler Yeats are in dialogue form,suggesting a similar inspiration, although the closet drama genre was not one Yeats was fond of. The austerity of many of the plays he wrote for the Abbey Theatre derives largely from his study of Japanese Noh drama; their closest analogue for contemporary Europeans, however, would have been the Romantic closet drama. Verse is a writing that uses meter as its primary organisational mode, as opposed to prose, which uses grammatical and discoursal units like sentences and paragraphs. ... A common understanding of Western Europe in modern times. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... German literature comprises those literary texts originating within Germany proper and written in the German language. ... Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822; pronounced ) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. ... Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, essayist and poet. ... Moby-Dick[1] is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. ... W.B. Yeats in Dublin on 24 January 1908. ... A poster for the opening run at the Abbey Theatre from 27 December, 1904 to 3 January, 1905. ... Noh performance at Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hiroshima Noh or Nō (Japanese: 能) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. ...

The popularity of closet drama at this time was both a sign of, and a reaction to, the decline of the verse tragedy, so popular during the Neoclassical period, on the European stage in the 1800s. Popular tastes in theatre were shifting toward melodrama and comedy, and there was little commercial appeal in staging verse tragedies (though Coleridge, Robert Browning, and others wrote verse dramas that were staged in commercial theaters). Playwrights who wanted to write verse tragedy had to resign themselves to writing for readers, not actors and audiences. Nineteenth-century closet drama became a longer poetic form, without the connection to practical theatre and performance. Verse drama is any drama written as verse to be spoken; another possible general term is poetic drama. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... Robert Browning For information about Robert X. Browning, Director of the C-SPAN archives, see Robert X. Browning. ...

According to Robertson Davies, closet drama is "Dreariest of literature, most second hand and fusty of experience!". However, a great deal of it was written in Victorian times and afterwards. Some continues to be written today, although it is no longer a very popular genre. William Robertson Davies, CC, FRSC, FRSL (born August 28, 1913 at Thamesville, Ontario, and died December 2, 1995 at Orangeville, Ontario) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

List of writers who have created closet drama

• Plato (dialogues rather than drama)
• Book of Job (an epic rather than a drama)
• Cicero
• Strabo
• Seneca the Younger
• Jane Lumley
• John Milton
• Samuel Daniel
• Fulke Greville
• Samuel Brandon
• William Alexander
• Thomas Kyd
• Elizabeth Cary
• Margaret Cavendish
• Joanna Baillie
• Anne Finch
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Lord Byron
• Percy Shelley
• Robert Browning
• Thomas Hardy
• Michael Field
• Gordon Bottomley
• Karl Kraus
• Eugene Ionesco