Tennessee Williams was known as one of the greatest and most controversial playwrights in American history. He once said “I believe that writing or any form of creative work was never meant by nature to be a man’s way of making a living, that when it becomes one it almost certainly loses a measure of purity” (Lewis 54). This statement shows that Williams was a genuine writer who used his plays and poems to express his own thoughts. Williams was known for his Southern Gothic writing style. This is “a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents” (“Southern gothic”). Some critics believe that Williams had sacrificed his talent for fame and fortune; however, other critics believe his writings were original works of art. When Williams’ lover, Frank Merlo, died he went into a deep depression and his writing began to suffer. His plays were becoming less and less desirable and the amount of time each was on Broadway was slimming down little by little. Williams’ beginning writings were works of art, but they became predictable as time went on. Although he did use a lot of recurring themes and symbols, each individual piece had a life and moral value of its’ own.
Williams was born March 26, 1911. His mother and father were Edwina and Cornelius Williams respectively. His mother was the divine essence of a southern belle whose main focus was being of the social elite. His father was a drunken shoe salesman who would later be claimed as the reason for Williams’ homosexuality. Williams’ siblings include Rose and Dakin Williams. It is said that his only real company growing up was his sister and their Negro nursemaid, Ozzie. ...
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Rose Isable Williams was born in Gulfport, Mississippi on November 19, 1909 and was older than Tennessee Williams. The siblings were inseparable d...
Many writers begin writing and showing literary talent when they are young. Paul Laurence Dunbar, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, was already editor of a newspaper and had had two of his poems published in the local newspaper before he’d graduated from high school. His classmate, Orville Wright, printed The Tattler which Dunbar edited and published for the local African American community. After graduating from high school, he was forced to get a job as an elevator operator which allowed him spare time for writing. He finally gained recognition outside of Dayton when, in 1892, he was invited to address the Western Association of Writers and met James Newton Matthews who praised his work in a letter to an Illinois newspaper. In 1892, he decided to publish his first book of poems entitled Oak and Ivy and four years later his second book of poems Majors and Minors was published. People began to see him as a symbol for his race, and he was thought of artistically as “a happy-go-lucky, singing, shuffling, banjo-picking being… in a log cabin amid fields of cotton” (Dunbar, AAW 2). Dunbar’s poems, written alternately in literary and dialect English, are about love, death, music, laughter, human frailty, and though Dunbar tried to mute themes of social protest, social commentary on racial themes is present in his poetry.
Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30th 1918 in San Diego, California. His father, a photographer, named him after the late outspoken president Teddy Roosevelt.His mother was a salvation worker of Mexican descent ("My Turn At Bat"15). His parents, who he later came to resent, were poor and constantly working
William was born in 1821 to former slaves in Burlington County, New Jersey. His father, Levin Steel, settled in a New Jersey farm after receiving his own freedom. Mr. Steel changed his name to Still to protect his wife, Sidney, who had permanently joined him when she succeeded in her second attempt to escape from slavery in Maryland. The first time she tried to escape, she fled with her four children but was recaptured. The second time, to secure their freedom, she escaped with only her two daughters. She was forced to leave two sons behind, Peter and Levy who were sold to slave owners in Alabama. She after changed her name from Sidney to Charity. Just simply that Williams father Levin...
Stanton, Stephen. "Introduction." Tennessee Williams: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, 1977. 1-16.
Daniel Hale Williams III was born on the exact date of January 18, 1856, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Price Williams and Daniel Hale Williams II. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams III was the fifth child in a family of seven children. He was born five years before the Civil War. Williams’s mother, Sarah Price Williams, declare black, white, and Indian ancestry. His grandmother was a slave in Maryland who lived on the exact same plantation as abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Williams’s father side was also mixed.
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
Tennessee Williams described Sothern Gothic literature as a style that captured “the underlying dreadfulness in modern experience” (Hemmerling). The literature intended to reveal the social issues surrounding the time period. Features of this literature, “includes situations and places as well as unsavory characters that are often racist, religious fanatic, egotistical or self-righteous” (Kullmer). This description of Southern Gothic literature also fits other genres of post Civil War American literature. Works by authors such as Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Sui Sin Far, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston and Earnest Hemingway also contain characters, situation, and places revealing similar social controversies displaying racism, sexism, and egotistical behavior.
He also infused humor into his work. Williams dissected the traditional American family, and he penned many stories about dysfunctional and volatile families. In the journalist Bruce Smith's memoir on Tennessee Williams entitled Costly Performances, Tennessee is quoted reminding his readers, "I have had a life of required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching along a sheer surface and holding on tight with raw fingers to every inch of rock higher than the one caught hold of before...." (Smith, 6) Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in his maternal grandfather's rectory in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26, 1911.
Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911. As a successful playwright, his career was greatly influenced by events in his life. He was noted for bringing the reader "a slice of his own life and the feel of southern culture", as his primary sources of inspiration were "the writers he grew up with, his family, and the South." The connection between his life and his work can be seen in several of his plays.
Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the child of Laurie McLaurin and Robert Fitzgerald Williams. His mother was a former model and his father was a Ford Company Executive (Robin Williams - Biography). As a result of his parents’
In Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire the characters represent two opposing themes. These themes are of illusion and reality. The two characters that demonstrate these themes are Blanche, and Stanley. Blanche represents the theme of Illusion, with her lies, and excuses. Stanley demonstrates the theme of reality with his straightforward vulgar ness. Tennessee Williams uses these characters effectively to demonstrate these themes, while also using music and background characters to reinforce one another.
It was a pleasure reading your response for this weeks discussion. I agree with your opinion, in which Tennessee Williams portrayed each of the temperaments of the men differently. Williams opened the scene with the men playing poker. This scene showed the men interacting with one another in their “natural habitat” allowing the reader to see the different attitudes of the men. In my opinion, Mitch is seen as compassionate and gentlemen like because he states, “I gotta sick mother. She don’t go to sleep until I come in at night” (Williams 47). On the contrary, Stanley, an insensitive character, replies with, “Aw, for sake of Jesus, go home, then!” (Williams 48). Mitch is more of a gentleman than Stanley due to the fact Stanley drunkenly
England's most talented and well know poet and dramatist was born on April 23, 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon, located in the cetre of England. His father, John, was a glove-maker and wool dealer involved with money lending. His mother Mary Arden was the daughter of a Farmer. William was the third out of eight children whom all died young. His father became Mayor in 1568, after serving on the town council for many years.
Shakespeare's comedies can be recognized in terms of plot, structure and characters. We can see that Shakespearean comedies follow the same structural pattern, a basic plot on which the play is based. For example, a key feature of all comedies is that they depend upon the resolution of their plots. However, Shakespeare's comedies are distinguishable, as some are classed as comic dramas and others as romantic comedies. In comic drama, there is usually a motif of a place where reality and the unreal merge, the roles of characters are reversed and identities are mistaken or lost. This place may take on the form of a feast or celebration, or it may be presented as a place segregated from the normal society, such as the wood in A Midsummer Night's Dream. When scenes are set in this place, the ordinary rules of life and society do not apply. There is always an experience of chaos, which must be resolved in order for the play to become a true comedy.