edHelper.com

Tennessee Williams

---

Tennessee Williams
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 9 to 12
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.23

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		lyrical, dramatist, turbulent, patriarch, symbolism, playwright, largely, literary, reading, writing, notable, typewriter, estate, relationship, morally, poet
	content words:		Tennessee Williams, Thomas Lanier Williams, Edwina Williams, Eventually Williams, Washington University, Spring Storm, Theatre Guild, Rockefeller Foundation, American Academy, Glass Menagerie

---

Print Tennessee Williams

Print Tennessee Williams  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format

	Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
	Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format

Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity

Print a proofreading activity

---

Feedback on Tennessee Williams

Leave your feedback on Tennessee Williams  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Tennessee Williams By Jamie Kee

---

¹     Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century. He was often called a poetical playwright. Although a number of his plays were unsuccessful or hardly recognized, Williams' most successful plays gained attention worldwide.
 
²     Williams was born on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi, to parents Cornelius and Edwina Williams. He was the second born of three children. His father was a traveling salesman who was often away from the family. For many years Williams, his two siblings, and his mother lived with her parents, so he developed a close relationship with his grandfather. Williams was also close to his older sister, Rose. Sadly, the Williams family was seldom happy. His father, when home, would drink and gamble. His sister, Rose, spent much of her life in mental institutions. Williams felt distant from his younger brother, Dakin. When he was seven, Williams developed diphtheria and wasn't able to do much, so his mother encouraged him to use his imagination. She bought him a typewriter at the age of thirteen.
 
³     When Williams' father got a job at a shoe factory, the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where they lived in a crowded, low-rent apartment. Williams disliked St. Louis. He was teased by other students and often skipped school, so he escaped the world through writing and reading. Williams published his first story while still in high school. In 1929, after completing high school, Williams entered the University of Missouri. Finances forced him to leave school and work at a shoe factory. Williams spent his days working at the shoe factory and his nights writing. Having a breakdown from utter exhaustion, he moved to Tennessee to recuperate with his grandfather. Eventually Williams went back to college, this time at Washington University in St. Louis. He later transferred to the University of Iowa where he would see his first play produced, Spring Storm (1938), and eventually earn a bachelor's degree. It was said that Williams got his nickname from his university classmates because of his southern accent. He later chose to change his first name because he considered it appropriate for a poet. That same year he published his first short story using his new literary name, Tennessee Williams.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets

Back to School Graphic Organizers Alphabet Worksheets Sight Words Math Worksheets Mazes 50 States Monthly Themes January February March April May June July August September October November December

Fractions Place Value Time and Calendar Money Earth Day Solar System Analogies Nouns Following Directions Listening Capitalization Cursive Writing Patterns and Sequencing Dinosaurs All About Me Kindergarten First Grade Second Grade Third Grade Fourth Grade Fifth Grade Sixth Grade

Multiplication Division Main Idea Cause and Effect Measurement Decimals Rounding Order of Operations Verbs Community Helpers Adjectives Plants Grammar Addition and Subtraction Contractions Bulletin Board Ideas Word Searches Crossword Puzzles Printable Puzzles Reading Comprehension Reading Skills English Language Arts

Copyright © 2011 edHelper