Talk:Sweeney Agonistes

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Outline of influences[edit]

The current section "Comparison with Greek drama" should be broadened with a replacement section and sub-sections somewhat like the following outline:

Influences (with the following sub-sections):
Primitivism and ritual
Greek Drama
Cornford's "The Origin of Attic Comedy"
[Schuchard, p96-100] [Chinitz, p107-108] [Chinitz, p120-121]
etc.
Elizabethian and Jacobean verse drama
Modern popular culture
'The Romantic Englishman, the Comic Spirit, and the Function of Criticism'
etc.

WikiParker (talk) 18:22, 20 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Plot[edit]

I suggest changing the "setting" section to "Plot" (what there is of it). Or how about "Action"? I'm not inclined to add much there but will probably make small corrections or such. Maybe "Characters" and "Setting" can be sub-sections of something bigger.

Also, the setting may just be Doris's flat or else the landlord would go after Dusty too.

Nationality conflict: Wauchop linked to Canadian Force but is also described as a Britisher and it is he that knows the London girls best and is showing off the town. WikiParker (talk) 22:17, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Are you saying that you think the character "Pereira" is the landlord? If so, I don't think there's any evidence that he's the landlord. Based on my reading of the text, I believe that he's another john. Remember, Dusty and Doris say that he "pays the rent." And I take this to mean that he's a frequent customer who pays them enough that they can afford to pay the rent. But they don't really like him (unlike their customer/john Sam whom they say is a "gentleman").
I think that the character Sam is a former Canadian, now living in London, and showing his visiting American war friends a good time by treating them to two prostitutes. So I don't think there's conflict there (ambiguity maybe).
But it definitely would have made more sense for Eliot to have written out a formal "Setting" section and a "Characters" section where he made all of this more clear. Maybe he would have done this if he'd finished the play. Jpcohen (talk) 04:20, 23 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

performances[edit]

Because of Wikipedia's policy on linking to copyrighted material I don't want to put this in the article and I'm somewhat secretive here but Eliot's reading of Agon was on YouTube and a student production of TWL readings and the whole of Sweeney A. was on Vimeo. WikiParker (talk) 23:53, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds interesting. Perhaps if there was just a clip of Eliot reading the piece? I don't think it can be posted in full on youtube if it's copyright protected (though I could be wrong).Jpcohen (talk) 04:23, 23 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]