Inlinguistics andrhetoric, thehistorical present orhistoric present, also calleddramatic present ornarrative present, is the employment of thepresent tense instead ofpast tenses when narrating past events. It is also often called the "literary present tense"[1] It is typically thought to heighten the dramatic force of the narrative by describing events as if they were still unfolding, and/or byforegrounding some events relative to others.[2][3]
In English, it is used in:
In an excerpt fromCharles Dickens'sDavid Copperfield, the shift from thepast tense to the historical present gives a sense of immediacy, as of a recurring vision:
If the funeral had been yesterday, I could not recollect it better. The very air of the best parlour, when I went in at the door, the bright condition of the fire, the shining of the wine in the decanters, the patterns of the glasses and plates, the faint sweet smell of cake, the odour of Miss Murdstone's dress, and our black clothes. Mr. Chillipis in the room, andcomes to speak to me.
"And how is Master David?" hesays, kindly.
Icannot tell him very well. Igive him my hand, which heholds in his.
— Charles Dickens,David Copperfield, Chapter IX
Standard past tense: William the Conqueror traveled to England with his army of Normans and defeated King Harold at Hastings.
Historical present: In 1066, William the Conqueror travels to England with his army of Normans and defeats King Harold at Hastings.
Novels that are written entirely in the historical present include notablyJohn Updike'sRabbit, Run,Hilary Mantel'sWolf Hall andMargaret Atwood'sThe Handmaid's Tale.
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Summaries of the narratives (plots) of works of fiction are conventionally presented using the present tense, rather than the past tense. At any particular point of the story, as it unfolds, there is anow and so apast and afuture, so whether some event mentioned in the story is past, present, or future, changes as the story progresses. The entire plot description is presented as if the story'snow were a continuous present. Thus, in summarizing the plot ofA Tale of Two Cities, one may write:
Manetteis obsessed with making shoes, a trade helearnt while in prison.
The historical present is widely used in writing about history in Latin (where it is sometimes referred to by its Latin name,praesens historicum) and some modern European languages.
InFrench, the historical present is often used in journalism and in historical texts to report events in the past.[8]
The extinct languageShasta appeared to allow the historical present in narratives.[9][10]
TheNew Testament, written inKoine Greek in the 1st century AD, is notable for use of the historical present, particularly in theGospel of Mark.[11][12][13]
