Stealing thunder is to take someone else's idea, using it for one's own advantage or to pre-empt the other party.
Stealing thunder is to take someone else's idea, using it for one's own advantage or to pre-empt the other party.
The idiom comes from the peevish dramatist John Dennis early in the 18th century, after he had conceived a novel idea for a thunder machine for his unsuccessful 1709 play Appius and Virginia and later found it used at a performance of Macbeth . [1] [2] There is an account of it in The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland by Robert Shiels and Theophilus Cibber: [3] [4]
Mr. Dennis happened once to go to the play, when a tragedy was acted, in which the machinery of thunder was introduced, a new artificial method of producing which he had formerly communicated to the managers. Incensed by this circumstance, he cried out in a transport of resentment, 'That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my plays.'
In a contentious situation, such as a court case, political debate or public relations crisis, it is a tactic used to weaken the force of an adverse point. [5] By introducing the point first and being open about it or rebutting it, the force of the opposition's argument is diminished – their thunder is stolen. [6]
Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style. He wrote 25 plays for his own company at Drury Lane, half of which were adapted from various sources, which led Robert Lowe and Alexander Pope, among others, to criticise his "miserable mutilation" of "crucified Molière [and] hapless Shakespeare". He regarded himself as first and foremost an actor and had great popular success in comical fop parts, while as a tragic actor he was persistent but much ridiculed. Cibber's brash, extroverted personality did not sit well with his contemporaries, and he was frequently accused of tasteless theatrical productions, shady business methods, and a social and political opportunism that was thought to have gained him the laureateship over far better poets. He rose to ignominious fame when he became the chief target, the head Dunce, of Alexander Pope's satirical poem The Dunciad.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1717.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1757.
James Thomson was a British poet and playwright, known for his poems The Seasons and The Castle of Indolence, and for the lyrics of "Rule, Britannia!".
William Oldys was an English antiquarian and bibliographer.
John Dennis was an English critic and dramatist.
Barton Booth was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century.
Theophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.
Aaron Hill was an English dramatist and miscellany writer.
The Dunciad is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring decay, imbecility, and tastelessness to the Kingdom of Great Britain.
John Oldham was an English satirical poet and translator.
William Walsh of Abberley Hall, Worcestershire was an English poet and critic and a Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 to 1708.
Catherine Clive [article copyright: Berta Joncus]
Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Peter Hausted, Doctor of Divinity, was a "playwright, poet, preacher" in early 17th-century England. In his own time, he was notorious as a flamboyant preacher against Puritan and sectarian dissent in the Church of England, and was remembered for the riot that accompanied the 1632 debut of his play The Rival Friends.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Constantia Grierson [née Crawley], was an editor, poet, and classical scholar from County Kilkenny, Ireland. She was married to the Dublin printer and publisher George Grierson.
The Actor Rebellion of 1733 was an event that took place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, England, when the actors who worked there, disapproving of the changes in the management, attempted to seize control. Before the rebellion, the theatre was controlled by the managers Theophilus Cibber, John Ellys, and John Highmore. When Theophilus lost his share and was denied a bid to run the theatre, he, along with other actors, attempted to take over the theatre by controlling the lease. When the shareholders found out, they refused to admit the actors to the building and the theatre was closed for several months. The fight spilled over to the contemporary newspapers, which generally sided with the managers.
Robert Shiels was an English literary compiler.
Appius and Virginia is a 1709 tragedy by the British writer John Dennis. It was a distinct reworking by Dennis of an older play of the same title by John Webster. It was not a particular success on its debut. It became best known for Dennis' use of an innovative new technique to imitate the sound of thunder. When Dennis' play was taken off and a revival of Macbeth put off, he was angered when he attended a performance and discovered they were using his thunder machine, reportedly exclaiming "they will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder". This gave rise to the expression "stealing thunder".
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