Touch of the Poet

THE STORY: As told by Chapman, (NY News): The time of the play is 1828, and the setting is a tavern in a village near Boston. The tavern is owned by a tempestuous Irishman, Con Melody, who is as proud as he is ill-tempered. He had been born with wealth in a castle. He had been a major with the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Talavera. And now he is determined to show his pride and importance to the Yankee townsmen. He makes a great show of it, cantering about on a blooded mare, quoting poetry at his majestic image in a mirror, donning his splendid British uniform and celebrating each anniversary of Talavera. But the show deludes only himself. He is an Irishman of humble origin in a strange and unfriendly civilization. He is totally in debt. His wife keeps the tavern going; unaccountably, this long-suffering woman adores him. His spirited daughter, whom he treats like a servant and berates as a slut, hates him. But his arrogance continues until at last he is beaten by the Yankee enemy-literally beaten into a coma. So now he kills himself with a dueling pistol. Not by shooting himself, but by shooting his beloved mare, his one great show piece. This deed means the death of the past, the death of his pretensions and the birth of a new Con Melody.O'Neill, Eugene is the author of 'Touch of the Poet' with ISBN 9780822213932 and ISBN 0822213931.