heroic drama: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
Low (Specialist/Historical)Literary, Academic, Historical
Quick answer
What does “heroic drama” mean?
A genre of play, popular in the late 17th century, featuring noble characters, elevated language, epic themes of love and honour, and dealing with high-stakes conflicts, often in rhyming couplets.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
A genre of play, popular in the late 17th century, featuring noble characters, elevated language, epic themes of love and honour, and dealing with high-stakes conflicts, often in rhyming couplets.
Any dramatic work that consciously emulates the style, tone, and thematic concerns of Restoration heroic drama, or more broadly, any play or narrative that focuses on idealized, larger-than-life protagonists in grandiose, morally unambiguous conflicts.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Usage is identical in academic/literary contexts, as the genre is primarily studied as part of English literary history. The term may be slightly more frequent in UK university curricula due to the national context of the plays.
Connotations
Conveys academic rigour and specificity. May imply a certain formal, old-fashioned, or grandiose style when used metaphorically outside its strict definition.
Frequency
Extremely rare in everyday language. Encountered almost exclusively in literary studies, theatre history books, and related academic papers.
Grammar
How to Use “heroic drama” in a Sentence
[Author] wrote/ penned a heroic drama about [theme]The play is a classic example of (a) heroic drama[Play title] is considered a heroic dramaVocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “heroic drama” in a Sentence
adjective
British English
- The heroic drama tradition influenced later poets.
- She wrote a paper on heroic drama conventions.
American English
- His thesis focused on heroic drama structure.
- The course covered heroic drama elements.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Not applicable.
Academic
Primary context. Used to categorise and analyse plays by Dryden, Orrery, et al. Discussed in terms of its neoclassical ideals, political allegories, and use of the heroic couplet.
Everyday
Virtually never used.
Technical
Specific term in literary studies and theatre history.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “heroic drama”
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “heroic drama”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “heroic drama”
- Using it to describe any play with a heroic protagonist (e.g., Shakespeare's *Henry V* is not a heroic drama).
- Confusing it with Melodrama (which is 19th-century and has different conventions).
- Misspelling as 'heroic *dramma*'.
- Assuming it always has a happy ending (many are tragedies).
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Not exactly. While many heroic dramas end tragically (and are sometimes called 'heroic tragedies'), the genre is defined by its specific conventions—rhyming couplets, epic scope, a clash of love and honour—rather than solely by a tragic outcome. Not all tragedies are heroic dramas.
The form is most associated with John Dryden (e.g., "The Conquest of Granada," "Aureng-zebe"). Other practitioners include Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery, and Elkanah Settle.
Its peak popularity was during the English Restoration period, roughly from the 1660s to the late 1670s. Its conventions began to be satirised and fell out of favour by the 1680s.
A heroic couplet is a pair of rhyming iambic pentameter lines. It was the standard verse form for heroic drama, providing a dignified, epigrammatic, and closed structure that suited the genre's formal debates and moral pronouncements.
A genre of play, popular in the late 17th century, featuring noble characters, elevated language, epic themes of love and honour, and dealing with high-stakes conflicts, often in rhyming couplets.
Heroic drama is usually literary, academic, historical in register.
Heroic drama: in British English it is pronounced /hɪˌrəʊ.ɪk ˈdrɑː.mə/, and in American English it is pronounced /hɪˌroʊ.ɪk ˈdrɑː.mə/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
HEROIC DRAMA: Has Epic Rhymes, Ornate Conflicts, In Grand Couplets - Defining Restoration Authors' Magnificent Art.
Conceptual Metaphor
THEATRE IS A BATTLEFIELD OF IDEALS (where love and honour clash in stylized, verbal combat).
Practice
Quiz
Which of the following is a defining feature of Restoration heroic drama?