The Song of the Lark
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| Author | Willa Cather |
|---|---|
| Publisher | |
| Released | 1915 |
The Song of the Lark is the third book by American author Willa Cather. Written in 1915, it is perhaps Cather's most autobiographical work.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Set in the 1890s in Moonstone, a fictional place supposedly located in Colorado, The Song of the Lark is a powerful self-portrait of an artist in the making. The story revolves around an ambitious young heroine, Thea Kronborg who leaves her hometown to go to the big city to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous opera star.
[edit] Plot
The book is separated into six segments and one epilogue. The chronology goes as follows:
- Part I - Friends of Childhood (20 chapters)
- Thea's growing up years. At this point in the novel, she is just learning how to play the piano with an alcoholic German instructor named Wunsch.
- Part II - The Song of the Lark (11 chapters)
- Thea is granted a rare opportunity and she leaves Moonstone for Chicago.
- Part III - Stupid Faces (six chapters)
- Thea is frustrated when she realizes how fickle the public can be.
- Part IV - The Ancient People (eight chapters)
- A much needed rest. Romantic interlude in the Navajo ruins.
- Part V - Doctor Archie's Venture (five chapters)
- At Thea's request, Dr. Archie visits her in New York and loans her the money to study in Germany.
- Part VI - Kronborg (11 chapters)
- Ten Years Later...
- Epilogue
- While Thea enjoys the life of a famous opera star, the novel veers back to the quiet town of Moonstone, where her aunt lives comfortably alone.
[edit] Characters
- Thea Kronborg - main character
- Doctor Howard Archie - the gentle doctor who is one of Thea's friends from childhood
- Freddy Ottenburg - the sophisticated gentleman who is material to Thea's rise to fame and her realization as a true artist
- Spanish Johnny - the Spaniard whose passion for music made some people think he's a little mad.
[edit] Notable Quotes
"I only want the impossible, the others don't interest me!" -- young Thea
"Well, difficult things are enemies, aren't they? When you have to get them?" -- young Thea
"I've got to learn to do something well, and that's the thing I can do best." -- Thea in Boston
"No it isn't here unless I have it -- not for me! Only what I hold in my two hands is there for me!" -- Thea in Boston
"But it's silly to live at all for little things. Living's too much trouble unless one can get something big out of it." -- young Thea
"Oh, it's easy to fail!" - Thea with Freddy
"It's waking up every morning with the feeling that your life is your own, and your strength is your own, and talent is your own; that you're all there, and there's no sag in you." -- Thea with Freddy
"You know I can't do things halfway." -- Thea with Freddy
"Sometimes, I think that to be really honest, you must have been so poor that you've been tempted to steal." -- Thea musing
"I wish one could look ahead and see what's coming to one." -- Thea with Freddy
"It's the uncertainty that makes one try." -- Freddy
"Be generous to yourself. I can't help feeling that you'll gain, somehow, by my losing so much. That you'll gain the very thing I lose." -- Freddy
"There seems to be no limit to how much I can be in love with you. I just keep going." -- Freddy
[edit] External links
- The Song of the Lark at the Internet Movie Database
- The Song of the Lark, available freely at Project Gutenberg
- E-Book From the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
