This unit is an introductory survey of drama for ninth graders based on six plays, each representative of a different historical dramatic period: The “Antigone” of Sophocles,” “Everyman,” Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest,” Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck,” and Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano.” The plays represent human experiences drawn from different times, countries, and cultures. Drama brings students closer to imagining and reproducing the feelings of people quite different from themselves, and this is a learning experience. The major objective of the unit, then, is for students to acquire skills ranging from vocabulary to the perception of form, the meaning of culture, and the meaning of maturity. The strategy for teaching the unit begins with an introduction to mythology. It then describes a general process for the introduction of each play that uses useful traditional approaches ant terminology. Finally, the narrative presents unifying ideas, general concepts, and skills that particular plays can illustrate. Sample exercises on translation of plays and on setting conclude the unit.
(Recommended for 9th grade English classes; easily adaptable for an English IV World Literature Unit).
Key Words
History Drama Literature General
