Tennessee Williams’s lyrical drama

Critics, scholars and readers alike have hailed Tennessee Williams as the greatest Southern playwright and one of the most distinguished dramatists in the history of American drama. He is indisputably the most renowned American playwright of the second half of the 20th century. This article endeavors to make an overview of Tennessee Williams’s lyrical drama, focusing on its main features such as characterization, art, language, major themes represented in his plays, etc. Williams introduced the innovative concept of the Plastic Theater into the American drama, which combined all elements of production- dialogue, action, setting, lighting, even props - in a unified and symbolic expression of truth. Williams was a very prolific playwright, poet and prose writer but his three plays- The Glass Menagerie, his most experimental play; A Streetcar Named Desire, his masterpiece; and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, his most popular play- have entered and captivated the imagination of theater audiences for generations.