“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” Thornton Wilder
The play “Our Town” continues to be the most performed play on high school and university campuses today. Can you imagine why? The simplicity of theme and staging, the minimal action and suspense –what is it that draws us into this play? Think about this on your own, even before we discuss it in class. I look forward to your comments.
Please read the biography of Thornton Wilder that you will find on the Thornton Wilder Society homepage.
Next, review this presentation about the life and works of Thornton Wilder. Wilder bio
Finally, post a comment to this blog, listing 5 facts that you learned about Wilder on the Wilder Society page that were not included in the PowerPoint. [Due by 7:00 AM, August 21st]
1. The entire Wilder family was very successful and educated
2. His father’s name was Amos Parker Wilder
3. His mother, Isabella Niven Wilder, married Amos at age 21
4. Amos Niven, Thornton’s brother, was a prize-winning poet and a ranked tennis player
5. Thornton’s sister, Isabel Wilder, attended 13 schools by age 20.
1. Amos Parker Wilder was U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Shanghai.
2. The Wilder family did not just produce one brilliant writer and thinker. The entire family was, by any measure, filled with successful and highly educated and accomplished people.
3. Thornton’s older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, was a highly acclaimed professor of New Testament scholarship, an insightful essayist, and a distinguished poet, as well as a tennis champion.
4.Thornton’s father, Amos Parker Wilder, attended Yale.
5. Isabel Wilder was a member of the first graduating class of the Yale School of Drama (1928) and wrote three successful novels in the 1930s
1. Thorton’s father, Amos Parker Wilder, owned and edited a newspaper and was the consul general in Hong Kong.
2. Thorton’s brother, Amos, also served in World War I as a coporal of artillery.
3. Thorton’s sister, Isabel, was his personal agent, spokesperson, and representative in this country and abroad.
4. Thorton’s father exerted a commanding role over his children by telling them where to go to school and college.
5. Thorton’s mom, Isabel, instilled the love of literature and drama in her children.
Thorton’s mom is who instilled love of lit. in her kids
the entire family was well educated and successful
Tthorton’s father went to yale
because of his father, wilder and his siblings spent most of their childhood in china.
his first novel was “The Cabala”
1. His father was Amos Parker Wilder and his mother was Isabel Niven Wilder
2. His whole family was very intelligent and accomplished. (His sisters were also poets,professors and novelists and brother was proffesor and tennis champ)
3. His father made him and his brother work on farms and at selected offices during summertime when they were teenagers.
4. His mom encouraged poetry and writing in all members of her family.
5. His mother was the first woman elected to public office in Hamden, Conneticut.
1. Thorton was not the only person in his family who had many achievments.
2. Thortons older brother was a tennis champion.
3. Thortons father had an oil cloth factory in a neighboring town.
4. During Thortons and his brothers summers they had to work on farms and in selected offices.
5. Thortons sister Charlotte was a poet and won awards such as the Shelley Memorial Award
1.His entire family was successful
2.One of his sisters went to Oxford University in England
3.His works are still being perofrmed today
4.His father was the U.S. consulate general to China for the U.S.
5.He lived in Connecticuit
1. Lived in different parts of Asia
2. Went to 4 different colleges
3. His sister attended 13 colleges before she was twenty years old.
4. His mother wrote lots of poetry
5. The U.S. post office made a stamp with his face on it.
1. father’s name was Amos Parker Wilder.
2. family lived in china when Wilder was a child
3. father was a U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Shanghai
4.his brother Amos Niven Wilder, was a professor of New Testament scholarship and a high ranked tennis player
5.Thornton’s mother, Isabella Thornton Niven Wilder, went to the Misses Masters School in Dobbs Ferry
1. The Wilder family, unlike some during that time, was well educated.
2. During some of his life he lived in Asia.
3. Thorton Wilder’s older brother, Amos Wilder, was a tennis champion.
4. Wilder’s father put him to work on verious jobs during his teenage years.
5. Thornton’s sister, Isabel Wilder, went to up to 13 schools by age 20.
1. By the time he died he was an American icon
2. His whole family was very educated and very sucessful.
3. He was on the cover of Times Magazine for January 12 1953.
4. He died in his sleep on December 7 1975.
5. His father had a goal for all of his children, a person should strive to achieve character, and they did not dissapoint him.
1. he had 3 younger sisters
2. graduated from high shcool in CA
3. his grandfather owned a oil cloth factory in maine
4. father was a us general consul in china
5. his mother was a poet
1. He began writing as a boy.
2. His father was a newspaper owner and editor, a powerful speaker, and the United States Consul General to Hong Kong and Shanghai.
3. His mother was a cultured and educated woman who instilled a love of literture, drama and languages in her children.
4. His brother profesor of New Testament scholarship, an insightful essayist, and a distinguished poet, and tennis champion.
5. His sister, Charolette, was a profesor of English and an award-winning poet.
1. His first play was called The Russian Princess.
2. He had a twin brother who died at birth.
3. Even though he spent most of his childhood in China, he finished high school in California.
4. His brother Amos, was a well known tennis champion.
5. His sister Isabel was a well known author.
Thorton’s older brother’s name was Amos Niven Wilder. He was a professor of New Testament scholarship and played tennis.
His sister Charlotte was an English professor and poet.
Amos Parker Wilder (his father) was promoted by President Theodore Roosevelt to consul general in Hong Kong.
His mother, Isabella Niven Wilder became the first woman to be elected to public office in Hamden, Connecticut.
His youngest sister, Jane Wilder Dakin, devoted her life to conservation issues, equestrian affairs, and animal rights.
1.Amos Parker Wilder (his father) was U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Shanghai.
2. His father was also editor and owner of a newspaper.
3.His brother was a professor of the New Testament scholarship.
4.In 1920 his mother became the first woman elected to public office in Hamden, Connecticut.
5.Thornton’s sister (Isabel Wilder) attended thirteen schools by the time she was twenty.
1. Twin Brother died at birth
2. His older brother Amos was a tennis champion.
3. Wilder taught poetry at Harvard.
4. A commemorative stamp of Wilder was issued.
5. Wilder is the only American writer to receive the Pulitzer prize for drama and fiction.
1. His brother was a poet and tennis champion
2.His sister, Isabel, was his agent and spokesperson.
3. Wilder wrote his first play, The Russian Princess, before he graduated high school.
4. Thornton won the German Peace Prize in 1957.
5. Wilder’s youngest sister was a noted enviromentalist.
1. Wilder finished high school in California.
2. He died while living in hamden, Connecticut.
3. Wilder’s father (Amos Parker Wilder) was a newspaper owner and editor.
4. Wilder began writing as a boy.
5. He was an internationally famous playwright and novolest.
1. Born 1897 died 1975
2. He graduated from Yale and got his masters at Princeton.
3. 1926 published his first novel : “The Cabala”.
4. 1927 won the Pulitezer.
5. Life interest music and teaching.
1. He had one older brother and three younger sisters
2. the wilder family waas full of smart and successful people
3. his father was born in Calais, Maine
4. issabella wilder was the one who instilled a love of literature, drama and languages in her children, and who wrote vivid poetry.
5. Isabel was the only other author
1. He had a twin brother that died at birth.
2. His older brother was a tennis champion.
3. His first play was called The Russian Princess.
4. Everyone in his family was successful and educated.
5. In 1927, he won the Pulitezer Prize.
1. He had a twin brother.
2. Him and his father both attended Yale at one point.
3. His sister is also a well known writer.
4. Wilder wrote his first play before he graduated highschool.
5. His sister attended 13 schools before she was 20.
1. He and his father both went to Yale.
2.He wrote another play the Skin of our Teeth. 1942
3.His dad’s name was Amos and his mom’s name is Isabella.
4. Amos’ goal for all his children was to strive to achieve character.
5. wilder had four siblings one older than him the rest younger than him.