The Druriad

The Druriad by Anonymous is a satirical poem with critical and explanatory notes, written in the late 18th century. It is a work of theatrical criticism centered on the performers of Drury-Lane Theatre. The likely topic is a spirited survey that celebrates outstanding actors while satirizing weak ones, lamenting declining taste, and urging higher standards on the English stage. An opening advertisement claims the theatre shapes public morals and warns that laxity has dimmed acting, setting a mission to praise merit and ridicule mediocrity. The poem, cast as a dialogue between an Author and a Friend, shifts from a playful debate about poetic fashions to a pointed tour of Drury’s company. It exalts Mrs Siddons for tragic mastery, Kemble for commanding Shakespearean roles, Miss Decamp for versatile brilliance, Mrs Pope and Mr King for comic truth, and Charles Kemble as a rising hope, while censuring others for bombast, miscasting, or coarse buffoonery, and rebuking managers for poor distribution of parts. Brief portraits touch many figures—Jordan, Powell, Palmer, Bannister, Suett, Barrymore, Goodall, Wathen, Kelly, and more—balancing flashes of praise with sharper rebuke. The extensive notes amplify the judgments, attack fashionable playwrights and pantomimes, defend serious drama, and call for renewed reverence for Shakespeare. The work closes with a plea for a poet to rekindle Shakespeare’s spirit and restore dignity and taste to the stage.

The Druriad, by Anonymous. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #77394.