SOURCE: A Study of the Comedies of Richard Brome: Especially as Representative of Dramatic Decadence, Stanford University Press, 1912, pp. 9-61.

In the following essay, Allen considers Brome's works “decadent”: while well constructed, they are merely exercises in technique “without content.”

The word “decadent,” according to the Century Dictionary, signifies a “falling away,” “decaying,” “deteriorating.” It is not surprising, in view of the general character of these terms, that at least two standpoints are taken as to what should be considered decadent in literature. One group of men hold that the term should be applied to all writers in a period which shows a decline from a high standard attained immediately preceding this decline. Those who hold this view say that Ben Jonson, Webster, Middleton, and most of their contemporaries are decadent dramatists, because their work certainly shows a falling away from the standard of Shakespeare. When thus used...