Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini   By: George Henry Boker (1823-1890)

Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911 is a collection that showcases the talent and variety of American playwrights during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One notable play included in this collection is Francesca da Rimini by George Henry Boker.

Francesca da Rimini is a tragic play that explores themes of love, betrayal, and fate. The story follows the doomed love affair between Francesca, the wife of Gianciotto Malatesta, and Paolo Malatesta, Gianciotto's brother. As their illicit relationship unfolds, the consequences of their actions become increasingly dire, ultimately leading to a heart-wrenching and devastating end.

Boker's writing in Francesca da Rimini is both poetic and powerful, drawing the reader in and evoking a range of emotions. The characters are complex and well-developed, making their tragic downfall all the more poignant. Boker effectively captures the tension and drama of the story, creating a compelling narrative that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.

Overall, Francesca da Rimini is a gripping and emotionally resonant play that is sure to leave a lasting impact on readers. It is a standout piece in the collection and a testament to the enduring power of American drama during this period.

First Page:

The name of George Henry Boker suggests a coterie of friendships a group of men pledged to the pursuit of letters, and worshippers at the shrine of poetry. These men, in the pages of whose published letters and impressions are embedded many pleasing aspects of Boker's temperament and character, were Bayard Taylor, Richard Henry Stoddard, and Charles Godfrey Leland, the latter known familiarly in American literature as "Hans Breitmann." These four, in different periods of their lives, might have been called "the inseparables" so closely did they watch each other's development, so intently did they await each other's literary output, and write poetry to each other, and meet at Boker's, now and again, for golden talks on Sundays. Poetry was a passion with them, and even when two Boker and Taylor were sent abroad on diplomatic missions, they could never have been said to desert the Muse their literary activity was merely arrested. One of the four Stoddard often felt, in the presence of Boker, a certain reticence due to lack of educational advantages; but in the face of Boker's graciousness a quality which comes with culture in its truest sense, he soon found himself writing Boker on matters of style, on qualities of English diction, and on the status of American letters a stock topic of conversation those days... Continue reading book >>