Creative Writing Commons^™

Who Died: Redefining The Elegy Through Affect And Trauma, Brittney La Noire

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This project introduces the claim that death literature, specifically elegies and epitaphs, do not rely on set structure or content, but rather are poetic effects of trauma and affect. Both have been defined and redefined by critical scholars, but there is still a division about their use. The beginning of the project will pull together Paul De Man, Cathy Caruth, Theresa Brennan, and Diana Fuss to apply the theoretical principle of trauma and affect transhistorically through Theocritus, John Milton, and Percy Shelley. The final portion will be an original creative collection of elegies combined with epitaphs as ending couplets about …

Lesbian Love Sonnets: Adrienne Rich And Carol Ann Duffy, Robin Seiler-Garman

Senior Theses

Our conceptualization of sexuality is rooted in gender. Modern, western society defines sexuality as which genders one is and is not attracted to—often appearing as a binary between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Recently, however, queer theorists have begun to push against the idea of binary sexuality altogether.

The interplay between gender and sexuality additionally manifests in the history of literature. Because the two are so intimately intertwined, writing about sexuality necessitates writing about gender. Twenty-One Love Poems by Adrienne Rich and Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy are two poetry collections where, as lesbian poets, gender and sexuality play an important role. …

T.S. Eliot: A Never-Ending Exploration, Kristina Krupilnitskaya

Honors Thesis

The following thesis explores the work of T.S. Eliot before and after his conversion to the Anglican Church. While the paper explores the stylistic qualities of Eliot's poetry, the main focus of the essay lies in bridging the pre and post conversion works together in order to show that both of the periods were significant in the poet's life. While many critics viewed Eliot's early poetry as a lot more exploratory and challenging, calling his later poetry banal and bland, my essay aims to show that even though the poetry had shifted in its content, its significance, complexity, and experimentality …

Argument In Poetry: (Re)Defining The Middle English Debate In Academic, Popular, And Physical Contexts, Kathleen R. Burt

Dissertations (1934 -)

The core problem that drives my dissertation is to find a definition for what has been called Middle English “debate poetry” that accounts for the wide variety of themes, topics, and styles which poems labeled as ‘debates’ cover. The limitations of overly focused and restrictive definitions of the term ‘debate poetry’ encountered by previous scholars illustrates the initial problem of using a generic term that lacks a common vocabulary or framework for discussion. The result has been that each scholar who investigated a poem linked to this tradition used a different definition suited to his or her particular text(s) of …

Angels And Demons: Christina Rossetti’S Goblin Market As A Social Critique Of The Victorian Ideal Of The “Angel In The House” And The Pre-Raphaelites’ Response To That Ideal, Melissa Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market presents a subversive critique on the socially constructed dichotomy of Angel versus Demon as depicted in Pre-Raphaelite artwork, Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poetry, and Coventry Patmore’s poem Angel in the House. An analysis of Goblin Market in relation to Patmore’s poem and the Pre-Raphaelite paintings The Annunciation, Ophelia, Lady Lilith, Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, and Sibylla Palmifera and Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poems “Soul’s Beauty” and “Body’s Beauty” illustrate the ways in which Rossetti presents a counter-image that breaks down this socially constructed dichotomy. This is additionally supported by an exploration …

William Blake: An Integrated Teaching Approach, Shawn C. Gaspaire

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to explore the usefulness of providing integrated curricula in today's contemporary classroom. The literature review illustrates that integrated approaches to teaching improve classroom engagement rates, retention, and skill level across grade levels when compared to non-integrated environments. A tenweek model using William Blake as a catalyst is presented. The integrated approach using Blake incorporates history, English, the arts, vocational arts, communication, and the technologies. Implications of integrated curriculum and William Blake are discussed.

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.