Storytelling through Dramatic Performance and Poetry

The Rise of Shakespeare

During the 1600s, William Shakespeare, who had been a well-known actor with a travelling company of actors in England, began his own company, and began writing plays which were performed at public theatres in England. These plays were based on stories including traditional folklore, historical events, and events of the day (Hughes, 2009). Shakespeare's work became so nationally and internationally known that he would later became known as the "Bard of Avon", as well as the “National Poet of England”, for his work as a professional poet. Shakespeare changed the face of storytelling to include dramatic performance during the 17th century. It is at this same time that the literary (written) tale begins to take over from the oral tradition of the bards of the past. By the end of the century, literary fairy tales became accepted as its own genre (Sorensen, 2004).   

Courtesy moodle.monashores.net

The Fireside Poets

During the mid-1800s, a group of American poets became well-known for their poetry due to its timely content and ease of recitation. The “Fireside Poets”, as they became known, commonly used poetic devices such as rhyme and rhythm in their poetry, making the words easier to memorize and retell. The poems, written by poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and William Cullen Bryant, were based on legend, family life, and politics, with some of the most popular poems being longer narrative-style poems (Creech, 2014). Families would often share the poems while sitting together around the fire, thus contributing to the collective name of the group.