Sweet Bird of Youth: Act Three

by Tennessee Williams
In Tennessee Williams's play, failed actor Chance Wayne takes up with fading starlet Alexandra del Lago and returns to his hometown of St. Cloud, Florida.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Foreword; Act One, Scene One; Act One, Scene Two; Act Two, Scene One; Act Two, Scene Two; Act Three
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. emblem
    a visible symbol representing an abstract idea
    The shutters in the Moorish Corner are thrown open on the Palm Garden: scattered sounds of disturbance are still heard: something burns in the Palm Garden: an effigy, an emblem?
  2. serene
    completely clear and calm
    Over the interior scene, the constant serene projection of royal palms, branched among stars.
  3. infernal
    characteristic of or resembling Hell
    Somebody in this hotel can surely get me somebody to drive me at any price asked!—out of this infernal...
  4. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    Her imperious voice, jewels, furs, and commanding presence abash them for a moment.
  5. abash
    cause to be embarrassed
    Her imperious voice, jewels, furs, and commanding presence abash them for a moment.
  6. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    That's why you can't stay in St. Cloud, especially after this ruckus...
  7. treachery
    an act of deliberate betrayal
    I wonder what they found in it? Old, despaired-of ambitions, little treacheries, possibly even little attempts at blackmail that didn't quite come off, and whatever traces are left of really great charm and sweetness.
  8. obscurity
    an unimportant and not well known standing
    He's in the dimmed out background as if he'd never left the obscurity he was born in.
  9. custodian
    one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals
    It's mine, I was born to own it, as he was born to make this phone call for me to Sally Powers, dear faithful custodian of my outlived legend.
  10. vanity
    feelings of excessive pride
    Their vanity's infinite, almost as infinite as their disgust with themselves...
  11. strident
    being sharply insistent on being heard
    PRINCESS [in a low, strident whisper]: Sally?
  12. rapture
    a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion
    She drops phone in a daze of rapture.
  13. disdainfully
    in a proud and domineering manner
    She grunts disdainfully, her back to him; then resolution falters; she turns to face him with great, dark eyes that are fearful, lonely, and tender.
  14. resolution
    a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner
    She grunts disdainfully, her back to him; then resolution falters; she turns to face him with great, dark eyes that are fearful, lonely, and tender.
  15. falter
    be or become weak, unsteady, or uncertain
    She grunts disdainfully, her back to him; then resolution falters; she turns to face him with great, dark eyes that are fearful, lonely, and tender.
  16. sentiment
    tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion
    In both Chance and the Princess, we should return to the huddling together of the lost, but not with sentiment, which is false, but with whatever is truthful in the moments when people share doom, face firing squads together.
  17. doom
    an unpleasant or disastrous destiny
    In both Chance and the Princess, we should return to the huddling together of the lost, but not with sentiment, which is false, but with whatever is truthful in the moments when people share doom, face firing squads together.
  18. spurious
    plausible but false
    For the Princess: a little, very temporary, return to, recapture of, the spurious glory.
  19. instinctive
    unthinking
    She makes this instinctive admission to herself when she sits down by Chance on the bed, facing the audience.
  20. timeless
    unaffected by the continuum from the past to the future
    Look, a shepherd boy's leading a flock.—What an old country, timeless.
Created on Wed Feb 28 14:07:09 EST 2018 (updated Wed Mar 07 08:57:20 EST 2018)

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