Plays and Lyrics

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 281K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Plays and Lyrics by Cale Young RiceAuthor: Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 25, 2014

Editor's review

Plays and Lyrics is a collection of verse plays and lyric poems by Cale Young Rice (1872–1943), belonging to the tradition of traditional verse drama and lyric poetry in American literature. Its value lies in giving readers direct access to an early twentieth-century American poet's attempt to write drama in verse: dialogue in the plays attends to rhythm and sound, while the lyrics present personal feeling and natural imagery. For readers studying verse drama, American regional literature, or Rice's work, this is an original, free primary text. As a public-domain e-book, it can be read in flexible settings: as a sample of verse drama in literature courses, or for readers interested in English verse to dip into at leisure. Readers need not go straight through; begin with a monologue from a play or a short poem to feel the language, then decide what to read closely. Note that the book is in the original English and dates from an early period, so some experience reading English poetry is needed.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students studying American verse drama and verse forms
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American poetry who are willing to read the English original
Teachers and enthusiasts looking for public-domain English scripts or poetry for reading aloud
Readers who enjoy verse dialogue and lyric short poems and can accept older English expression

Not a good fit for

General readers with weak English reading skills who need a Chinese translation
Contemporary fiction readers who prefer strong plots and fast narrative
Readers who only want to know about Rice's life and literary standing without reading the original

Reading tips

Start with shorter plays or lyrics before longer plays, so verse dialogue does not put you off at the outset.
Read aloud to feel the rhythm and meter of the verse; this conveys the feel of verse drama better than silent reading.
Mark unfamiliar old expressions or allusions as you go and look them up together, rather than stopping at every word.
For courses or research, read alongside background material on the tradition of verse drama in American literary history.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does this book contain plays or poems?

The title indicates two parts: several verse plays (Plays) and lyric poems (Lyrics). Both are written in verse but are different genres: the plays have characters and dialogue, while the lyrics are mostly short pieces on feeling or nature.

There is no Chinese translation; what English level is needed?

The work is late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century English verse, with traditional sentence patterns and literary vocabulary. It is best attempted by readers with university-level English who have read some English poetry; if verse dialogue proves hard, start with the lyrics alone.

Is it suitable as classroom teaching material?

It can serve as a teaching sample of verse drama or American verse writing, especially for discussing the dialogue rhythm and stage qualities of verse drama. But since it is a public-domain original without notes, teachers must supply their own background and vocabulary annotations.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 Author

Cale Young Rice (1872–1943) was an American poet and playwright. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to set out, but the eleven works by him held in this collection show that he wrote steadily in both poetry and verse drama. Poems such as Sea Poems, Many Gods and Nirvana Days take the sea, faith and Eastern philosophical reflection as their themes, with concise language and a lyrical, meditative quality; plays such as David: A Tragedy, Yolanda of Cyprus, Porzia and The Immortal Lure draw mainly on historical or legendary stories, using verse dialogue to develop their characters' emotions and conflicts of fate. His writing combines romantic imagination with a search for the meaning of life, and his works hold a place in early twentieth-century American letters, remaining of interest to readers studying the poetry and verse drama of that period.