Third Voice

Book excerpt: In this stimulating survey of the entire field of modern English verse drama, William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot are regarded as the key figures. Shorter studies are included of Christopher Fry, E.E. Cummings, W.H. Auden, Archibald MacLeish, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, and Richard Eberhart. Differing from some contemporary critics, Mr. Donoghue believes that verse drama is a major creative art-form of our literature, with a vigorous present and promise of a vital future. In a persuasive and perceptive exposition of this belief, he considers such questions as the nature of dramatic verse, the mood play, the relation between dramatic verse and the behavior of speech, the necessity of distinguishing between "verse drama" and “poetic drama” or “theatre poetry.” Originally published in 1963. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.