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READING BARLOW AND TYLER

With these texts, we’re moving into a lighter vein. The Contrast is the first play we’ve read this term, though it wasn’t the first play professionally produced in the colonies. Despite Puritan and Quaker disapproval of the theater, there had been productions of imported plays, and British companies had toured some cities. Moreover, there were quite a few amateur theatrical efforts, especially in the southern colonies, as well as college students who did dramatic readings. But most of this stopped during the revolution, when people were busy with more serious matters. After the revolution, antidrama bans were lifted, theatrical companies returned, and new companies were formed.

On this scene, Tyler was an amateur. He had served in the Revolutionary War and had courted the daughter of John and Abigail Adams. He was a lawyer, the chief justice of the supreme court of Vermont, a professor of law at the University of Vermont, and a member of the militia. Nevertheless, his play was the first American comedy to be professionally produced.

As you read, think about the Americanness of this text. Is Tyler merely writing an American version of a Restoration comedy of manners? Or is he doing something different with that form? You might think about the way humor and sentiment function in this play. What gets laughed at here, and what ultimately is valued? Consider the title of the play as well. To what contrast does it refer? Consider as well the way that the characters within this play treat literary texts--books, plays, etc. How does the play within the play function here? How does Tyler use other references to theater and theatricality?

Joel Barlow’s "The Hasty Pudding" is one of the finest mock-epics in the English language. Barlow, in more serious moments, had Paine’s The Age of Reason published during Paine’s imprisonment, and also wrote more serious poetry, including an epic called The Columbiad which contrasts the glories of America’s future with Europe’s past. How does that contrast animate "The Hasty Pudding"?

The humor of the poem is due in part to the juxtaposition of epic form with simple matter, producing a mock epic in which small things are rendered large. How does Barlow play with the epic mode? Consider, for example, the opening of the poem, and the epigraphs he chooses. On the other hand, this poem may not be entirely a joke. What does this poem suggest about America and its relationship with Europe? What images or ideas are associated with hasty pudding in this poem?