A Touch of the Poet was published posthumously by Yale University Press in 1957, part of O’Neill’s unfinished eleven-play cycle “A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed” (only this play and More Stately Mansions survive in performable form). Set in a tavern near Boston in 1828, it follows Major Cornelius Melody — an Irish immigrant who was once an officer in Wellington’s army at Talavera and who cannot stop performing the role of gentleman.
Every day, Con Melody dresses in his officer’s uniform, quotes Byron to his reflection in the mirror, and treats his impoverished customers with aristocratic contempt. His wife Nora — a peasant woman who married above her station — enables his fantasy because she loves him. His daughter Sara sees through him and is contemptuous — she is courting a young Yankee aristocrat, Simon Harford, partly as revenge against her father’s pretensions.
The play reaches its crisis when Con attempts to challenge the Harford family’s patriarch to a duel (for insulting his daughter) and is beaten by servants. His humiliation destroys his persona — he shoots his mare (his last aristocratic possession) and collapses into the Irish brogue and peasant identity he has spent decades denying.
Collecting A Touch of the Poet
First edition (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1957): Boards, no dust jacket (issued in printed boards like Long Day’s Journey).
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $60–$150
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Irish Innkeeper
A Touch of the Poet (completed 1942, published 1957) was intended as the first play in O’Neill’s unfinished eleven-play cycle, A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed, tracing an American family through history. Only this play and More Stately Mansions survive. Cornelius “Con” Melody, an Irish immigrant innkeeper in 1828 Massachusetts, clings to his identity as a Napoleonic War hero and Anglo-Irish gentleman while his wife and daughter see through his pretensions. The play is a devastating character study of self-deception and immigrant pride.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to the rest of the cycle? O’Neill destroyed most of the manuscripts during a period of severe illness in the late 1940s. He burned the drafts of at least six plays. Only A Touch of the Poet (complete) and More Stately Mansions (incomplete draft) survive, representing an incalculable literary loss.