Digital Commons Network^™

Sherwood Anderson, Dramatist, Brenda H. Renalds

Master's Theses

Sherwood Anderson published only a few plays and, beside his lasting contributions to American literature (such as Winesburg, Ohio), these plays are of little literary value. To the student of Anderson, however, they are important not only because they reflect one of the many facts of Anderson's interest in literature but also because, near the end of his life, his dramatic attempts reflect concern for his literary career. Although his interest in the theater began early, he turned to the writing of plays later when suffered through long periods of time in which he could not crate the kind of …

The Individual And The Problem Of Self-Definition In Faulkner : Isolation And Gesture In Light In August, The Sound And The Fury, Absalom, Absalom!, And As I Lay Dying, Betty Jean Seymour

Master's Theses

Perhaps the primary task of the writer is the communication of that which is most significant in human experience. This paper has grown out of an interest in contemporary literature as an expression of this function. Literature, like other art forms, can appraise, analyze, reflect, and, sometimes, provide direction for, the plight of modern man.

Marlowe's Cosmology, William H. Caldwell

Master's Theses

A general study of Marlowe 's cosmology may by no means be original, for numerous critics have mentioned the subject in varying degrees; however, there is a wide disparity or opinion concerning the relative importance of the subject in relation to the playwright. This study is not exhaustive; it is significant, however, because it attempts to prove by means of biographical and historical backgrounds the idea that Mar­lowe had an intellect that was always "climbing after knowledge infin­ite."

In this study there are two obvious omissions: the plays Dido, Queen of Carthage, and The Massacre at Paris. …

Herbert's Household Imagery, Christina Hillquist Halsted

Master's Theses

The apparent simplicity of George Herbert's poetry has caused much comment and much misunderstanding of both the man and his poetry. The popular nineteenth-century picture of Herbert as the simple, tranquil country priest is being discarded, however, as twentieth-century scholars of metaphysical poetry re-exa mine both the works and life of George Herbert and find little simple about his life and a magnificent craftsmanship in his poetry.

Both the simplicity and the depth of Herbert's poetry lie in his imagery, in which concrete everyday objects and actions become high abstractions usually difficult to express. Of course, the presentation of abstractions …

Archetypal Patterns Of Death And Rebirth In The Mature Poetry Of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Frank Thomas Hanenkrat

Master's Theses

This paper attempts to establish a viewpoint from which the mature poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins may be seen in an informing light. The method of the paper is to trace "exponents" -- that is, images, words or objects that form motifs or patterns in the poetry. Similar to leitmotifs in music, literary motifs are likewise used to set forth themes. By tracing exponents we are "recognizing patterns of images and symbols that lead us to a consistently deepening appreciation of the literature. Image leads to image, idea to idea, until ultimately we are led to experience the 'meaning' of …

The Joyce Menagerie : Animal Imagery In The First Three Novels, David A. Dewitt

Master's Theses

If James Joyce l:ad written novels with largely rural settings, like many written by Lawrence and Faulkner, it would not be particularly unusual to find many references to animals and birds. However, Joyce's novels take place in Dublin, which certainly is not the ideal habitat for large numbers of animals; and yet the number of references to animals and birds in his novels is astounding. The brief portion of Stephen Hero contains nearly fifty primary references, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man has ninety-four, and there are more than eight hundred in Ulysses. Not only is the …