Revolution in The Iceman Cometh

Abstract

A POETIC LINE-"The days grow hot, 0 Babylon! 'Tis cool beneath thy willow trees!"-is repeated with variations some dozen times in The Iceman Cometh by the anarchist character Hugo Kalmar. Biographers and critics of O'Neill have failed to note the origin of this important thematic line which reinforces the connotation of the title, wherein the warm, loving bridegroom of the Bible is replaced by the cold, profane iceman of death. The absence of comment might make one wonder if the playwright made up the line and its variations himself, were it not for the fact that they appear in quotation marks and are designated as "Hugo's favorite quotation."