Abstract：Abstract: Eugene O’Neill, in his poetic sentiment about the formal meaning and intrinsic implication of the ancient Greek tragedy, captured the modern form and meaning that fits the modern tragedy. The dramas of Beyond the Horizon, Desire under the Elms, Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey into Night and so on, borrows the fatalistic tragic form of ancient Greek, expresses modern humanity’s confessions and humanitarian ideas, and embodies the inheritance and transcendence of ancient Greek tragedy by O’Neill. As a playwright of the Irish ethnic group, Eugene O’Neill has laid a deep formal meaning and a solid modern cultural foundation for modern American dramas.
Key words: O’Neill; the tragedy; the classical form; the modern meaning
