Creative Writing Commons^™

Songs Of Ishq, Freedom And Rebellion: Selected Kafis Of Bulleh Shah In Translation, Zainab Sattar

Masters Theses

Abdullah Shah (1680-1757) was the birth name of the boy who would later become one of the most eminent Sufi poets of South Asia, and the master of Sufi lyrics in Punjabi—Bulleh Shah. Living during times of strife and major conflict between the Sikhs and the crumbling Mughal Empire, Bulleh Shah wrote poetry with an underlying humanist and tolerant philosophy that challenged the turmoil of his times. Blind to the bounds of religion and caste in an increasingly divided India, Bullah’s spiritual philosophy and his message of equality found voice in his kafis—a genre of poetry indigenous to the …

Game Of Thrones And Ancient Rome, Alexander Arnold

Honors Theses

Ancient Roman society to this day influences different aspects of modern life. One of these aspects includes visual media and entertainment. Renowned by ancient sources and secondary sources as one of the most successful and powerful empires throughout history, the actions of the Romans inspire spectacles of amusement on contemporary award-winning movies and television shows. This would include movies like Gladiator and Spartacus along with television shows like Rome. This study investigates the award-winning, HBO television series Game of Thrones. The show is adapted from a novel series entitled A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George …

Lesbia A Voice From The Unheard, Jullisa Webb

Honors Theses

This compositional thesis examines and utilizes the works of the infamous Latin poet Catullus in his advances to gain the amours of his mysterious love figure named Lesbia. In an attempt to try and deviate from normal social standards, this thesis gives a woman a voice, power, and supremacy against a man by rejecting his advances, not typical in the era of Catullus. Lesbia takes on the form of female embodiment of power, strength, and defiance. First I translated in a literal way the poems Catullus wrote to Lesbia. Then I transformed and altered Catullus’ poetry into letters with a …

Metamorphoses (15.178) For Violin Clarinet Cello And Piano, Max Caplan

Honors Theses

A chamber music composition, approximately eight minutes long, for the above instrumentation. The title refers to a line from Ovid's epic, which reads, "All things are fluid, and every shape is born to change." Ovid puts the words in the mouth of the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who soliloquizes on the meaning of life, the nature of time, and the interconnectedness of all things. The speech centers around his ideas of reincarnation (either literal or metaphorical), which, as a kind of metamorphosis, links the passage thematically to the rest of the poem. Metamorphoses (15.178) reflects this central notion of change …

The Sword And The Dove, Natalie Grazian

Canterbury Scholars

The opening chapters of a young adult historical fiction novel set in 16th-century Spain. Drawing on the tradition of Spanish picaresque literature, The Sword and the Dove is the story of a young girl who runs away from home. On the road, she makes friends and finds adventure, but also witnesses the corruption and cruelty that has taken root in her country. She must both disguise her identity and find strength in it to stay a step ahead of the evil forces that surround her.

Dancing Fire, Helena Alfajora

Canterbury Scholars

My creative process is like the Hero’s Journey. Wrought with “the call to action,” I felt a call from these pieces to bring them into our material world—the ideas, the moods, the colors wanting to translate from my mind through my hand and now, into this room. Through all the musings of our daily lives, these pieces came to be through different mediums with different mentors and different mindsets. The one constant throughout was my content, my inspiration, my grounding—the Hawaiian goddess, Pele.

Her form takes place in art, dance, written words, life, nature, my family, those around me. In …

Painted Palimpsests: Ancient Texts And Modern Fiction Of Roman Transgression, Fraiser Hays Kansteiner

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

The Crown Of Life, Thatcher Kupple Snyder

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.