The playwright is aware that his work is often not strongly plotted. It may be that he is most comfortable with an impressionistic structure in which the plot seems to flow naturally, very much like "real life." This method proved effective for Talley's Folly, which seems indeed very natural yet demonstrates on inspection a structural rhythm. Generally, it might be said that the conversation of Sally and Matt goes back and forth between the past, always important to Wilson's characters, and the present, interrupted by several tangential episodes and observations. "The past" covers her family history, his early family background in Europe, and the beginning of their courtship the preceding summer. "The present" dramatizes the final stage of their courtship and their plans to elope that same evening. "Tangential episodes" include, for example, a scene in which Matt "ice skates" on the bare floor of the folly...