Tragedy is to say a certain storie, As olde bookes
maken us memorie, Of him that stood in great
prosperitee And is yfallen out of high degree Into
misery and endeth wretchedly. --Chaucer.
All our tragedies are of kings and princes. --Jer.
Taylor.
tragedy is poetry in its deepest earnest; comedy is
poetry in unlimited jest. --Coleridge.
2. A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives
are lost by human violence, more especially by
unauthorized violence.
A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.
--Milton.
2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and
interest. ``The drama of war.'' --Thackeray.
Westward the course of empire takes its way; The
four first acts already past, A fifth shall close
the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is
the last. --Berkeley.
The drama and contrivances of God's providence.
--Sharp.
3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or
illustrating it; dramatic literature.
Note: The principal species of the drama are {tragedy} and
{comedy}; inferior species are {tragi-comedy},
{melodrama}, {operas}, {burlettas}, and {farces}.
{The romantic drama}, the kind of drama whose aim is to
present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like
those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories
told in dialogue by actors on the stage. --J. A. Symonds.