Act 1, Scene 1 Summary

This scene is set by the side of a road stretching into the distance. In the twilight of early evening on a day in May, a man in his early twenties, who looks like an intellectual (Robert) sits on a fence and reads. He looks up towards the horizon, suddenly thoughtful.

Robert's older brother Andrew (a more rugged and earthy kind of man) calls out to him. Robert turns, startled. Andrew joins him on the fence, teases him for being such a daydreamer, and asks to look at the book. Robert hands it to him, warning him, "don't get it full of dirt." Andrew responds by saying it, "isn't dirt – it's good clean earth."

As Andrew looks through the book, he quotes some of the poetry. Andrew teases Robert about how he took a liking to that "stuff" at college and...