The Play's the Thing |
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Page 12
... scenes that are merely for atmosphere , others merely for plot , and still oth- ers for character ; in most cases every scene must pre- sent all of these things at the same time . The author must constantly be able to create the ...
... scenes that are merely for atmosphere , others merely for plot , and still oth- ers for character ; in most cases every scene must pre- sent all of these things at the same time . The author must constantly be able to create the ...
Page 13
... scene counts in many ways , as he cannot , when in the theater , go back and pick up what may have been lost by stupidity or inattention , the auditor must , in a measure , match the power of the author by an equal power . This complex ...
... scene counts in many ways , as he cannot , when in the theater , go back and pick up what may have been lost by stupidity or inattention , the auditor must , in a measure , match the power of the author by an equal power . This complex ...
Page 18
... scenes of pain or suffering did not in some indirect and subtle fashion produce a present or prospective satisfaction there are few , probably , who would be able to hold themselves to the offices of service which pity enables us to ...
... scenes of pain or suffering did not in some indirect and subtle fashion produce a present or prospective satisfaction there are few , probably , who would be able to hold themselves to the offices of service which pity enables us to ...
Page 24
... shown perhaps primarily through the characters and the kind of scenes selected to show those charac- ters . All art is of course selective ; the great secret of the art of tragedy is to choose characters of 24 THE PLAY'S THE THING.
... shown perhaps primarily through the characters and the kind of scenes selected to show those charac- ters . All art is of course selective ; the great secret of the art of tragedy is to choose characters of 24 THE PLAY'S THE THING.
Page 25
... scenes wherein this vital energy finds full expression . This is also demanded by economy because the time avail- able is short and the impression must be made swiftly . In Greek tragedy this is done by making the play out of the last ...
... scenes wherein this vital energy finds full expression . This is also demanded by economy because the time avail- able is short and the impression must be made swiftly . In Greek tragedy this is done by making the play out of the last ...
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Aeschylus Anti Antigone appears Aristo Aristophanes Athenian Athens beauty believe Besant biographic Boswell Bulwer burlesque characters charm chorus clear clearly Cleon Clytemnestra comedy Coming Race conservative Creon Cromwell Crystal Age dare death defeat Dionysus Disraeli doubt drama dramatist dreams element emotions enjoy tragedy enjoyment Erewhon eternity Euripides evil fact fashion fear feeling give gods Greek Guedalla Hamlet hero human Iago Inner House intellectual irony Juliet king Lear least Lincoln literary literature love of living Lysistrata mind modern moral motifs mystery one's Othello passion perhaps phanes picture pity play plot Plutarch political politician Polyneices portrait Praxagora present problem question reader reason Romeo and Juliet satire satisfaction scenes Shakespeare sion situation skepticism Sophocles Sparta speech story strange struggle suffering suggestion themes Thesmophoriazusae things tion tragic true universe Upsidonia Utopian wholly woman women worship writer
Popular passages
Page 29 - Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise.
Page 55 - To hear then prepare of the Discipline rare which flourished in Athens of yore When Honour and Truth were in fashion with youth and Sobriety bloomed on our shore; First of all the old rule was preserved in our school that "boys should be seen and not heard": And then to the home of the Harpist would come decorous in action and word All the lads of one town, though the snow peppered down, in spite of all wind and all weather: And they sang an old song as they paced it along, not shambling with thighs...
Page 34 - The time is out of joint : — 0, cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right ! — Nay, come, let 's go together.
Page 56 - To leave not a trace of themselves in the place for a vigilant lover to view. They never would soil their persons with oil but were inartificial and true. Nor tempered their throat to a soft mincing note and sighs to their lovers addressed : Nor laid themselves out, as they strutted about, to the wanton desires of the rest: Nor would anyone dare such stimulant fare as the head of the radish to wish: Nor to make over bold with the food of the old, the anise, and parsley, and fish: Nor dainties to...
Page 56 - To some manly old air all simple and bare which their fathers had chanted before. And should any one dare the tune to impair and with intricate twistings to fill, Such as Phrynis is fain, and his long-winded train,. perversely to quaver and trill, Many stripes would he feel in return for his zeal, as to genuine Music a foe.
Page 43 - When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news, and we'll talk with them too, Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who's out; And take upon's the mystery of things. As if we were God's spies...
Page 65 - On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure.
Page 94 - But the poetnaturalist realized later, in this idea of an "unchanging peaceful present" with the stamp of everlastingness upon it, was implicit a contradiction of natural selection. Viewing his work from the perspective of thirty years, Hudson wrote in the preface to the 1906 edition: Alas that in this case the wish cannot induce belief. For now I remember another thing which Nature said — that earthly excellence can come in no way but one, and the ending of passion is the beginning of decay.10...
Page 103 - Nature said — that earthly excellence can come in no way but one, and the ending of passion and strife is the beginning of decay.
Page 64 - And now, dear friends, I wish to chide you both, That ye, all of one blood, all brethren sprinkling The selfsame altars from the selfsame laver, At Pylae, Pytho, and Olympia,6 ay And many others which 'twere long to name, That ye, Hellenes — with barbarian foes Armed, looking on — fight and destroy Hellenes ! So far one reprimand includes you both.