eri's sense of the political state of Italy in his own day.
And the poet undoubtedly has gained the gratitude of his countrymen
for his voicing of that love for liberty which has always existed
in their hearts.

Just as Alfieri sought to condense the action of his plays, so he
strove for brevity and condensation in language. His method of
composing was peculiar. He first sketched his play in prose, then
worked it over in poetry, often spending years in the process of
rewriting and polishing. In his indomitable energy, his persistence
in labor, and his determination to acquire a fitting style, he reminds
us of Balzac. His brevity of language--which shows itself most
strikingly in the omission of articles, and in the number of broken
exclamations--gives his pages a certain sententiousness, almost like
proverbs. He purposely renounced all attempts at the graces and
flowers of poetry.

It is hard for the lover of Shakespearean tragedy to be just to
the merits of Alfieri. There is a uniformity, or even a monotony,
in these nineteen plays, whose characters are more or less alike,
whose method of procedure is the same, whose sentiments are
analogous, and in which an activity devoid of incident hurries the
reader to an inevitable conclusion, foreseen from the first act.

And yet the student cannot fail to detect great tragic power,
sombre and often unnatural, but never producing that sense of the
ridiculous which sometimes mars the effect of Victor Hugo's dramas.
The plots are never obscure, the language is never trivial, and the
play ends with a climax which leaves a profound impression.

The very nature of Alfieri's tragedies makes it difficult to represent
him without giving a complete play. The following extracts,
however, illustrate admirably the horror and power of his climaxes.

L. Oscar Kuhnes

AGAMEMNON

[During the absence of Agamemnon at the siege of Troy, Aegisthus, son of
Thyestes and the relentless enemy of the House of Atreus, wins the love
of Clytemnestra, and with devilish ingenuity persuades her that the only
way to save her life and his is to slay her husband.]

ACT IV--SCENE I

AEGISTHUS--CLYTEMNESTRA

Aegisthus--To be a banished man, ... to fly, ... to die:
... These are the only means that I have left.
Thou, far from me, deprived of every hope
Of seeing me again, wilt from thy heart
Have quickly chased my image: great Atrides
Will wake a far superi