THE MODERN DRAMA SERIES
EDITED BY EDWIN BJÖRKMAN
THE GODS OF THE MOUNTAIN : THE GOLDEN DOOM : KING ARGIMĒNĒS ANDTHE UNKNOWN WARRIOR : THE GLITTERING GATE : THE LOST SILK HAT :
BY LORDDUNSANY
FIVE PLAYS
GODS OF THE MOUNTAIN
THE GOLDEN DOOM
KING ARGIMĒNĒS AND THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR
THE GLITTERING GATE
THE LOST SILK HAT
BY
LORD DUNSANY
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1922
Copyright, 1914,
By Little, Brown, and Company
All Dramatic rights reserved by the Author
These plays are fully protected by the copyright law, all requirementsof which have been complied with. In their present printed form theyare dedicated to the reading public only, and no performance of them,either professional or amateur, may be given without the writtenpermission of the owner of the acting rights, who may be addressed incare of the publishers, Little, Brown, and Company.
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Introduction | vii |
| Chronological List of Plays | xiii |
| The Gods of the Mountain | 1 |
| The Golden Doom | 39 |
| King Argimēnēs and the Unknown Warrior | 61 |
| The Glittering Gate | 87 |
| The Lost Silk Hat | 101 |
INTRODUCTION
Observation and imagination are the basic principles of all poetry. Itis impossible to conceive a poetical work from which one of them iswholly absent. Observation without imagination makes for obviousness;imagination without observation turns into nonsense. What marks theworld's greatest poetry is perhaps the presence in almost equalproportion of both these principles. But as a rule we find one of thempredominating, and from this one-sided emphasis the poetry of theperiod derives its character as realistic or idealistic.
The poetry of the middle nineteenth century made a fetish ofobservation. It came as near excluding imagination as it could withoutceasing entirely to be poetry. That such exaggeration should sooner orlater result in a sharp reaction was natural. The change began duringthe eighties and gathered full headway in the early nineties.Imagination, so long scorned, came into its rights once more, and it israpidly becoming the dominant note in the literary production of ourown day.
The new movement has been called "neo-romantic" and "symbolistic." Boththese na