The Text Body: Drama
Dramatic verse uses the same <l> and <lg> tags as poetry. Generally,
the overall drama is tagged as <div0>, with the next structure in the
hierarchy, e.g. Act I, tagged as <div1> and so on. There are additional
tags for speeches, speakers and stage directions.
Speeches are noted using the <sp></sp> tag pair. Speakers, if
identified, are noted using the <speaker></speaker> tag pair, which is
nested within the <sp></sp> tags.
<sp><speaker>Hamlet</speaker>
<l>To be or not to be ....</l>
</sp>
Stage directions use <stage></stage> tags, which may occur either
inside or outside of <sp></sp> tags.
<stage>Exit, pursued by a bear.</stage>
Sample tagged drama
From Amy Levy's "Medea":
<DIV0 TYPE="drama">
<HEAD>Medea.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">(A Fragment in Drama Form, After Euripides.)</HEAD>
[epigraph omitted]
<LIST type="cast">
<HEAD>Persons.</HEAD>
<HEAD>Citizens of Corinth.</HEAD>
<ITEM>Medea.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Jason.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ægeus.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nikias.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV1 TYPE="scene">
<STAGE TYPE="setting">Scene : Before Medea’s House.</STAGE>
<STAGE TYPE="entrance">[Enter Medea.]</STAGE>
<SP><SPEAKER>Medea.</SPEAKER>
<L><HI>TO‐DAY</HI>, to‐day, I know not why it is,</L>
<L>I do bethink me of my Colchian home.</L>
<L>Of pride in strength, when strength was all unprov’d,</L>
<L>Of hope too high, too sweet, to be confined</L>
<L PART="i">In limits of conception.</L>
<PB N="p36">
<L PART="f">I am sad</L>
<L>Here in this gracious city, whose white walls</L>
<L>Gleam snow‐like in the sunlight ; whose fair shrines</L>
[lines omitted]
</sp>
[more lines omitted]
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Nikias.</SPEAKER>
<L>Gods, spare me your strange women, so say I.</L>
<L>Give me gold hair, lithe limbs and gracious smiles,</L>
<L PART="i">And spare the strangeness.</L>
</SP>
<SP><SPEAKER>Ægeus.</SPEAKER>
<L PART="f">I do marvel much</L>
<L PART="i">How she will bear the tidings.</L>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Nikias.</SPEAKER>
<L PART="f">Lo, behold !</L>
<L>Here comes our Jason striding ’thwart the streets.</L>
<L PART="i">Gods ! what a gracious presence !</L>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ægeus.</SPEAKER>
<L PART="f">I perceive</L>
<L>The Colchian on the threshold. By her looks,</L>
<L>Our idle talk has reached her listening ears.</L>
</SP>
<STAGE TYPE="entrance">[Enter Jason. Medea reappears on the threshold.] </STAGE>
</div1></div0>
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Last updated: 14 July 1998
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/vwwp-drama.html
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