Broadway’s lights are bright in New York City. Susan Glaspell’s Trifles probably would not fit in beside The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera. It is a different kind of play. “Central to Glaspell's plays is a concern with fulfilling life's potential, going beyond the confines of convention, safety, and ease to new and uncharted possibilities, both social and personal” (Dymkowski). Trifles is a short play in modern contemporary English, so the language is not a daunting task. The task at hand is to figure out what pushes the play along since suspense aspect of the murder is non-existent. The available videos use music to create mood, but that is not necessary while reading the play off the page. The action does not sustain the "thrill" of murder, but it does create a moral dilemma that can be "thrilling" in a different sense.
Dymkowski, Christine. "On the Edge: The Plays of Susan Glaspell." Modern Drama 31.1 (Mar. 1988): 91-105. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Marie Lazzari. Vol. 55. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
DO NOW:
Please click on Comments to give your ideas on this one-act play. Does it follow the rules of drama? What is its theme and does the playwright accomplish her goal?
Compare the text to the videos of this play.
Natasha Trethewey’s reading at the H. Bruce McEver Poetry Reading offers more than poetry. She puts the poems in context by offering background about the topics in the poems as well as her experiences that helped the poems come about. Her first poem about forgotten soldiers uses rhyme and short lines to convey a haunting tale.
A common theme in her work is race. She uses her poetry as political commentary. She discusses her family and miscegenation, which turns her life into poetry into political activism. She is also the current U. S. Poet Laureate.
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Please click on Comments and give your ideas about this poem.
Yusef Komunyakaa uses his own history to develop his poetry. His intonation and timing at the reading for the PoetryEverywhere project create an inviting scene and a haunting tale. His poetry uses detailed imagery of war to shock and to tell the truth. "Facing It" encompasses both literal and figurative meaning, intermixing them to the point of confusion. Reality is questionable, yet very certain.
Komunyakaa is another contemporary poet. He, too, fits into other "categories" of poets. Where does he fall and why?
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Dismayed with a war and the overall tone of American life, the Beats emerged as writers who went against the grain and rallied for the unpopular and marginalized people and ideas. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs became the main voices of this generation. William T. Lawlor’s “General Introduction” is a helpful overview of the time period and the ensuing movement.
Here’s how to find it: Lawlor, William T. "General Introduction." Beat Culture: Icons, Lifestyles, and Impact. Ed. William T. Lawlor. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC Clio, 2005. xiii-xviii. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 222. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
You might also better understand some of their writing if you understand some of their references: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats and The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.
DO NOW: Click on comments. Compare any of the poems by McKay, Hughes, Ginsberg, or Ferlinghetti from the text, the handouts, or the video clips. Sign your comments with your first name and last initial.
