Arthur Miller was born today in writing history, October 18. Celebrate the author’s birthday by learning more about his life and contributions to the literary world. Aspiring writers should also use this opportunity as a writing exercise. Look for inspiration today in writing history.
Today in Writing: October 18 – Arthur Miller’s Birthday
Arthur Miller was born on October 18, 1915, and is best known for his play, The Death of a Salesman. An acclaimed playwright, Miller’s work left a lasting impression in 20th-century American theater. Find your inspiration in the stories, works, and words in this installment of Today in Writing: October 18.
Writing Prompts for Today In Writing: October 18
Please take this opportunity to learn more about Arthur Miller and his contributions to dramatic literature. The Death of a Salesman has become a staple in American classrooms. His work, including plays like The Crucible and A View from a Bridge, has entertained audiences for decades.
What led Arthur Miller to write? Where did the inspiration for his ideas come from? And what helped the author create his literary style? Find inspiration about Miller, learn more details about his life, and write!
Arthur Miller Biography
Arthur Asher Miller was born in Harlem, New York City, New York, on October 18, 1915. His parents, Isidore Miller and Augusta (Barnett), both of Polish and Jewish descent, were from Radomyśl Wielki, Poland. Isidore, a businessman, owned a woman’s clothing factory. The family was well-respected and wealthy.
In 1929, the Great Depression hit, and the family lost almost everything. Miller would work a series of jobs to help support his family. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1932. The author would enroll at the University of Michigan. After graduating in 1936, Miller would eventually work at New York University and the University of New Hampshire.
Early Writing Career
Miller’s writing career began at the University of Michigan. He started his collegiate education in journalism and wrote for several of the school’s publications. While there, the playwright wrote his first play, No Villian, which would win the Avery Hopwood Award. The accolade inspired Arthur Miller to consider a career as a playwright, who switched his major to English literature. The aspiring author would enroll in playwriting seminars hosted by Kenneth Rowe, who helped hone Miller’s abilities and became a lifelong friend. In 1937, Arthur Miller wrote Honors at Dawn, which also received the Avery Hopwood Award.
Following graduation, Arthur Miller joined the Federal Theatre Project in 1938. However, the organization would be shut down the following year by the US Congress, fearing possible Communist infiltration. Miller would work in the Brooklyn Naval Yards while writing radio plays.
The outbreak of World War II saw many young Americans volunteer for the war effort. Miller was exempt from service due to a high school football injury to his knee. During wartime, he published his first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck.
The play won the Theatre Guild’s National Award. However, it closed to terrible reviews after only four performances. Miller tried again, publishing All My Sons in 1947. His second attempt would be a Broadway success, earning him his first Tony award for Best Author.
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
In 1948, Arthur Miller completed writing Death of a Salesman. It would premiere on Broadway to massive critical acclaim the following year. Salesman was the first play to win a Tony for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics’ Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The author would continue to publish work over several decades throughout his life.
Later Life and Death
Miller’s final play, Finishing the Picture, opened in Chicago in 2004. Later, in December, the author announced his intentions to marry 34-year-old Agnes Barley. Barley was a painter Miller had been living with for the past two years.
On February 10, 2005, Miller passed away from bladder cancer and heart failure in his Roxbury, Connecticut home at 89. The author had been in hospice care for the previous month. Arthur Miller was considered one of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights in a career that spanned several decades.
10 Arthur Miller Quotes
1. Man must shape his tools lest they shape him.
2. If I see an ending, I can work backward.
3. The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.
4. Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.
5. I think it’s a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one’s self.
6. Certainly the most diverse, if minor, pastime of literary life is the game of Find the Author.
7. The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism.
8. Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money.
9. A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
10. Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.
Arthur Miller Bibliography
No Villain (1936)
They Too Arise (1937, based on No Villain)
Honors at Dawn (1938, based on They Too Arise)
The Grass Still Grows (1938, based on They Too Arise)
The Great Disobedience (1938)
Listen My Children (1939)
The Golden Years (1940)
The Half-Bridge (1943)
The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944)
All My Sons (1947)
Death of a Salesman (1949)
An Enemy of the People (1950, based on Henrik Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People)
The Crucible (1953)
A View from the Bridge (1955)
A Memory of Two Mondays (1955)
After the Fall (1964)
Incident at Vichy (1964)
The Price (1968)
The Reason Why (1970)
Fame (one-act, 1970)
The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972)
Up from Paradise (1974)
The Archbishop’s Ceiling (1977)
The American Clock (1980)
Playing for Time (1980)
I Think About You a Great Deal (1986)
Playing for Time (stage version, 1985)
I Can’t Remember Anything (1987)
Clara (1987)
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991)
The Last Yankee (1993)
Broken Glass (1994)
Mr. Peters’ Connections (1998)
Resurrection Blues (2002)
Finishing the Picture (2004)
Today in Writing: October 18 – Daily Writing Exercise
Now that you have done some reading, it is time to write. Aspiring writers should look to the stories from Today in Writing: October 18 and Arthur Miller’s life. Read his quotes and study his writing to understand the author’s style.
Find a topic and freewrite for 10 minutes. Arthur Miller’s playwriting took time to perfect. While his first plays opened to bad reviews, his later works would receive widespread recognition. The author would continue to find inspiration for the rest of his life, publishing until his final years. Aspiring writers should look for inspiration in this writer’s determination and start writing.
Don’t let any opportunity to write go to waste. Aspiring writers: Practice your writing today. Celebrate Today in Writing History October 18.
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