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Eudora Welty : From "The Wanderers" To The Optimist's Daughter, Juli Ling Miller

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The writings of Eudora A. Welty have been published since 1936. They include four collections of short stories and five novels. Although she is a highly anthologized southern writer and winner of several literary awards, serious criticism of her works has been limited to her early short stories or the regionalism of her novels.

The scope of this thesis includes a traditional analysis of "The Wanderers," a story in The Golden Apples (1949) collection which has received cursory study, as well as an analysis of her latest published novel, The Optimist's Daughter, (1972) which has yet to be studied by …

Escape In Thurber : From Delight To Delirium, Carol Richardson Boyko

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

James Thurber (1894-1961) is the outstanding American literary humorist of the twentieth century, whose writing spans two periods of American humor: pre- and post-World War II. Pre-war humor is characterized by a debunking of traditional values: the sanctity of women and marriage, patriotism, hero worship, and the supremacy of common sense. The hero of this era is the victim, the slightly neurotic man who does not fit into high-pressured city life. Post-war humor moves from playfulness to bitterness, from misogyny to misanthropy, from man's displacement in inhuman society to man's displacement in the world.

The theme of escape in Thurber …

The Dualities Of Natures: Changes In The Sacred Literature Of The Cherokee, Pettis Bowling

Theses & Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

The Female Image In The Caldecott Medal Award Books, Patricia Lee Brighton Roberts

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

PROBLEM: Millions of children read and view the Caldecott Winners each year There are no published studies regarding the possible stereo-typing of the role of the human, animal and inanimate female image in the texts and illustrations of these 37 books.

Purpose: The. investigation ·was conducted to determine the extent the total population of the Caldecott books did stereo-type the role of the human, animal and inanimate female image.

Procedures: The investigation was completed in four steps: (1) First, a panel of sociologists determined the content validity of the definitions used in the hypothesis; (2) Second, a Content Analysis Form …

Science Fiction: A Survey Of Twelve Science Fiction Books Recommended For Junior And Senior High Students, Judy Hughes

Honors Theses

The following pages contain a brief look at twelve science fiction books and their authors. All of these books are recommended for either junior or senior high students.

As a prospective school media specialist, I wanted to know more about the literature that students from the ages twelve to eighteen read. Science fiction was one area in which I lacked background. Many of the students enjoy science fiction, especially the boys. So, I decided to read a sample of this type of literature to gain more knowledge in the field. After reading each book, I checked to see how many …

The Composite Art Of Blake's "Laughing Song", William Robert Warner

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

During the past five years, the literary critics have discovered William Blake, helping readers to understand clearly the various stages of development and the final form of the poet's entire mythology. And recent criticism has also clarified and expressed more systematically than earlier criticism certain features of Blake's total thought. Nevertheless, much recent criticism has hindered rather than helped the serious student of Blake's poetry.] Most critics treat Blake's poems as if they were only literary, completely avoiding discussion of their visual components. Yet, Blake clearly envisioned and intended that his reader view the poetry as a new form consisting …

"Art For Truth's Sake" : James A. Herne As Social Critic And Literary Artist, Nancy Hoyt Lecourt

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

James A. Herne, 1839-1901, is generally considered to be the best American dramatist prior to O'Neill. His dramas represent the first American attempts at dramatic realism. His early plays are melodramatic in tendency, but soon he began to eliminate villains, asides, stereotyped characters, and other trappings of that earlier dramatic form. When Hamlin Garland saw Herne's play dealing with the drinking problem, Drifting Apart, he was convinced that Herne could be groomed into a sort of American Ibsen. Garland soon introduced Herne to William Dean Howells, and the two authors encouraged Herne in his quest for realism. The result …

Money In The Fiction Of Willa Cather, Vincent A. Clark

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The subject of money is important in the fiction of Willa Cather. She discusses it frequently and often at great length. In some works it is a major theme.

Despite its importance, a number of Willa Cather's critics have ignored the subject or have given it only cursory mention. Several ·writers, however, have discussed the subject at length. John H. Randall, III, in particular, analyzes it in great detail.· His analysis, however, goes astray at several key points.

This thesis shows that Willa Cather's attitudes toward money were balanced, humane, and consistent. These attitudes can be summarized as follows: (a) …

The Literature Of Verbal Nonsense In Lewis Carroll, Samuel Beckett And Eugène Ionesco, Madeleine R. Scalliet

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Nonsense literature and nonsense poetry have provided release from the shackles of logic for centuries. But the greatest masters of English nonsense are Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. Carroll gives, in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass, the principles underlying a carefully-built structure. In Lewis Carroll's nonsense world, the creatures break the determinism of meaning and significance.

Nonsense can be defined by the following characteristics: a strong adherence to the concrete in every way possible in order to allow the intellect to be in complete control of its material and thus prevent reference; the elaboration of a pseudo-logic based …

"Presentational Immediacy" In The Poetry Of James Dickey, Lethiel C. Parson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The thesis explores the "presentational immediacy" of the poetry of James Dickey. "Presentational immediacy" is a phrase used by the poet, himself, to describe his attempt to provide a verbal equivalent of an intense experience. He also defines the phrase in stating that his aim is to effect spontaneity and reader involvement in the experience of the poems. This is a relatively difficult objective to accomplish. However, as is shown in the study of the poems in Chapter V, Dickey's handling of the general diction and imagery of the poems does fulfill his objective of presenting an experience in a …

A Comparison Of Jane Austen's Early And Late Characterization, Janet R. Moore

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to compare an early well-developed heroine, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, with a late well-developed heroine, Anne Elliot in Persuasion, in Jane Austen's novels to see if there are any changes in characterization and techniques of characterization and to evaluate these techniques.

In Chapter One, I have shown that throughout the nineteenth century from the time of publication, critics commented on Jane Austen's ability to create realistic characters. Not until the twentieth century, however, was Jane Austen's work evaluated critically. Twentieth century critics agree that she was a master at character …

Three Studies In Characterization, Diana A. Kohler

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

THE WOMEN OF BEN JONSON IN EPICOENE AND BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. This paper compares and contrasts the method variations that cause the women of Epicoene to be less interesting and more stereotyped than those of Bartholomew Fair.

Basically, in the women of Epicoene, Jonson used character types exclusively. The women were all "masculine," and remained that type throughout the play. In Bartholomew Fair, Jonson created versatility in the characters by including more information on the women through rhetorical "places," particularly the consilium or reason behind their actions. The multiplied places in the women in Bartholomew Fair, the changes in the …

The Application Of Eric Berne's Theory Of Structural And Transactional Analysis To Five Novels By Andre Gidé, Marcia Lynn Mead

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

"Measured Feet And Jingling Lines" : The Poetry And Poetic Attitudes Of Nathaniel Hawthorne, David L. Evans

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A study of Hawthorne's poetry and poetic attitudes encompasses three separate but integrally related areas. First, few people realize that Hawthorne wrote verse, and no other investigation of the nature and significance of the meager surviving body of this poetry has yet been undertaken. But Hawthorne's failure to create verse of enduring quality is intimately connected with the second part of the study, Hawthorne's own views of 19th century poetry and the motives surrounding his deliberate rejection of poetry as his dominant creative mode. And when his contemporaries glowingly label him as a "poet," despite his strong refusal to write …

The Whole Of Harmonium Music In Relation To The Poetry Of Wallace Stevens, Mary Alice Hollowell

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

"Graffitti": Obu's Literary Magazine, Susan Moss

Honors Theses

Susan Moon edited OBU's literary magazine, "Graffitti."

Multi-Directional Ideas In The Duality Of A Living Work, Orlando Jimenez

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a series of ideas underlying the philosophy behind the creation of the author's works. The paper deals with the creator-viewer relationship, and the distinction that is commonly accepted as existing between the perception of the two, ascribing more value on the perception of one over that of the other. The conclusions were reached after acute observation of occurrences of everyday as a source of esthetic experience and after lengthy discussions with people involved in the creative process.

Life And Personality Of Robert Frost, Una Mae Atkinson

Honors Theses

The most important American poet since Walt Whitman is the New Englander, Robert Frost. People who have never thought of reading poetry take to Frost. His words are simple words; the images are simple, most often country, things. The music of his poetry is the sound of everyday talk, and the ideas, on the surface, anyway, are plain and straight. Subjects of Frost's poetry are such things as nature, love and friendship, self-trust, fear, and courage.

Thus, Robert Frost occupies a unique position in modern poetry. Unlike most contemporary poets, he has managed to win a wide popular audience while …

Themes And Development In The Poetry Of Kenneth Patchen, Joe Kirby

Honors Theses

Kenneth Patchen has been, and continues to be, one of the most influential and controversial figures in contemporary American literature; very few people who read Patchen come away unchanged or uninfluenced by his poetry, and few, if any, of his readers are of mixed emotions about the value of his work: It is either sheer magic and of tremendous artistic merit or it is rough, emotional garbage, a judgement often dependent upon the courage of the reader. Patchen is not held in high esteem publicly by many poets and critics. The American poet Kenneth Rexroth was once advised by an …

A Survey Of Creative Dramatics, Julie Devecchio Baker

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The little princess was merrily playing in the garden with her ball; tossing it up into the air and bounding it down on the ground. As she played she danced around, humming and singing little snatches of tunes to herself. She was completely unaware of the evil-looking creature creeping up behind her. Suddenly, the evil witch stretched out her arms and, with fingers pointing at the little princess she loosed an evil-sounding yell. The little princess looked up first in amazement and then in horror. Then, she yawned sleepily and fell back on the ground fast asleep. The witch then …

A Et La Fête Des Amis, Anne Coppenger

Honors Theses

This is an original children's story in French, with original illustrations.

The Theory Of Elective Affinities In The Dramatic Love Poems Of Robert Browning, Harry C. Tartt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation

No abstract provided.

The Conflict Of Idealism And Naturalism In The Works Of Katherine Anne Porter: Fiction In Search Of Reality, Frances Cantrell Wolber

OBU Graduate Theses

Katherine Anne Porter is the internationally known novelist and short story writer who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for her work, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. Miss Porter, a near octogenarian from Texas, has done a regional type story with settings in Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central Europe (Germany) and the Old South.

Her life parallels her work in many instances, to a minor degree, but both confront good and evil in situations and episodes, and her works and philosophies are developed by the literary and philosophical media of idealism and naturalism. Her honesty forces her to …

A Study Of Modern Poetry, Kriste Mcelhanon

Honors Theses

This Honors Special Studies paper briefly explores five poets, their lives, and a few of their poems.

Godwin's Influence On Shelley: A Study Of The Effect Of Marriage Ideas In Political Justice On Shelley's Life And Writings, Marie Murphy Garrett

Theses & Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Urizen Symbols In Some Of William Blake's Poems, Glen Ivan Wilsey

Graduate Student Research Papers

It was the purpose of this study (1) to present a simplified background of Blake's philosophy and values and a clear concept of what Urizen is and (2) to show Blake's use of Urizenic symbols in presenting his views of the world in which he lived.

The Orc Symbol In William Blake's Works, Michael James Finnigan

Graduate Student Research Papers

A study of Orc, Blake's symbol for energy, suggests several different hypotheses. This paper intends to test the hypothesis that Orc is a force. With the use of illustrations and explications, Orc becomes more clearly a symbol of Blake's imaginative form. This energy will be seen at each level of Blake's visions, each different psychological stage, and at the highest level, poetic imagination. Thus, as the creator creates, the creation becomes the molded form of the creator's imagination.

The Religious Imagery In Emily Dickinson's Love Poems, Constance B. Kirby

Graduate Thesis Collection

This paper will discuss to what extent Emily Dickinson's heritage, environment, and experience formed her attitudes on religion and love, and will explain how successful she was in translating her intense emotional experience of love into poetry by examining her use of religious imagery.

Understanding The Child Through Creative Writing Analysis, Mona R. Stacy

Graduate Student Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to show the value of creative writing as an aid in the emotional development of the intermediate grade child. Creative writing (1) helps to release tensions and (2) tends to give the classroom teacher a deeper understanding of the child.

Total Mobilization, William Bingham

English Language and Literature ETDs

This literary treatment develops the condition of suspended animation which reaches its completion in the Jamesian character in "The Ambassadors" who makes mock-sinister references to a 'product' which he never names. Literature with all its claptrap about the 'vital' issues of love and adventure on the battlefield and in the drawing-room--this ridiculous cud chewed over and over makes me gag. Even the current prattle about 'existence' is an evasion, perhaps the supreme evasion...

The success of an 'embattled style' lies in the poet's ability to sustain generalisation without abstracting it from living experience. A limit of individuation must be transcended …