Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

The Communal Lyric: Poetry In Devotional And Oppressed Communities, Michael N. Yacoub

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the interaction between lyric and community; it asks what a communal lyric is, how it functions, and to what ends. In Chapter One, I compare Jonathan Culler’s performative model of lyric with the theory of Takhyīl as expounded by Arab philosopher-critics al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and al-Qartajanni to argue that a communal lyric is a form of audience-oriented public discourse distinguished by formal features that prompt the poem’s (re-)iteration and establish an interpersonal relationship with the audience in order to influence them and make shareable value claims about the world. In Chapters Two and Three I provide close-reading …

Margaret Cavendish And Radical Self-Love, Marina Burandt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Margaret Cavendish was an early modern Englishwoman writer who lived from 1623 to 1673. She wrote under her own name at a time when it was more common for women to write under a pen name, and published almost everything she wrote. Her writings include a multiplicity of genres, from science fiction, poetry, drama, and philosophy, to letters, biography, and autobiography. Cavendish’s style often blends multiple genres and forms, showcasing a modality that is driven by complexity and hybridity. Cavendish was a surprisingly modern figure in many ways, as her writings show. The Description of a New World, Called the …

Bilbo's Boethian Heroism, Wendy Marie Hoofnagle

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien’s Boethian heritage has been amply explored, particularly for The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but little scholarly attention has been paid to his development of Boethian ideals in The Hobbit, especially in regard to Bilbo’s heroic arc and the importance of luck on his journey. I argue that Tolkien develops Bilbo’s heroic identity and his famous “luck” as the actions of Fortune on behalf of Fate and divine Providence, interpreting the influential theology from Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy as a new kind of heroism that fulfills the teachings of Lady Philosophy.

My Mind In Middlemarch, Margaret A. Fisher

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

“My Mind in Middlemarch” is a creative-critical essay and personal narrative of self-diagnosis. It was modeled in length and (somewhat) in style on Rebecca Mead’s essay, “Middlemarch and Me,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 2011 and was later expanded into her book, My Life in Middlemarch (2014). This personal essay narrates my journey to self-diagnosis and the initial discovery of my autism— a realization sparked by the resonance I found between my life and that of Dorothea Brooke, the central heroine of George Eliot’s classic British novel.

The Map Of Wilderland: Ecocritical Reflections On Tolkien’S Myth Of Wilderness (2022) By Amber Lehning, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Andrew Higgins, of The Map of Wilderland: Ecocritical Reflections on Tolkien’s Myth of Wilderness (2022) by Amber Lehning

The Finest Orientalism: "The Orient" And Empire In 19th Century Romantic Poetry, Nathan D. Banfield

Graduate Masters Theses

This project seeks to interrogate the way that nineteenth-century Romantic authors incorporated tropes and depictions of the Near East in their poetry, and the relationship that their use of these tropes has to furthering the British Empire’s imperial aims. Drawing from the theory of “Orientalism” articulated by Edward Said, and his theoretical underpinnings in Michel Foucault’s theory of discourse analysis, I consider four major Romantic poets whose works articulate different versions of “The Orient” as a discursive entity. Said postulates that the “The Orient,” rather than being an inaccurate depiction of an existing geopolitical region, is a fabrication which is …

Surveillance, Punishment, And Rebellion: The Eye Of Sauron And Foucauldian Panopticism In J. R. R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Isabel M. Birge

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article uses Michel Foucault's theory of Panopticism, as outlined in his book Discipline and Punish as a framework for understanding the role of surveillance in Middle-earth throughout J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Drawing parallels between Foucault’s understanding of the Panopticon of Jeremy Bentham and Tolkien’s depiction of Sauron’s totalitarian vision, the paper explores the ways in which power operates invisibly through intermediaries, such as the Orcs and the Nazgûl, who internalize Sauron’s all-seeing gaze and perpetuate his dominion as well as through magical/technological means of gazing such as the Palantíri. This essay argues that, …

“Umble” Vampirism: Socioeconomic Scapegoats And David Copperfield, J.R. Rizzo

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The narrative framing of David Copperfield is oriented in a way that ignores the flaws of its titular hero. Dickens’ autobiographical David Copperfield is compounded to entertain readers. His social mobility refines their perception of David into a middle class gentleman who is neither aristocratic, nor working class. It is David’s narration which helps facilitate such a companionship between himself and the reader, clouding any serious criticisms behind the guise of his charm. The doubling of bias layered within the novel’s narrative structure thereby poses David as a sort-of golden boy. That is, Dickens’ adoration for his protagonist, coupled with …

“Sonnet 29”: The Transcendent Power Of Rich Love, Emily M. Lewan

2025 Symposium

Shakespeare's "Sonnet 29" highlights the journey of the human condition from lowly self-deprecation to high self-sentiments when affected by love. This paper analyzes the poignant fourteen lines penned by William Shakespeare and draws parallels between their sentiment and modern research on love's positive impact on preexisting low self-esteem and self-worth. "Sonnet 29" develops a story of the natural stages from self-deprecation due to low self-esteem into heightened self-worth due to the potent integration of love. Modern, scientific research by Harris and Ulrich, Răşcanu, and Zhang and Hawk, lends credence to the assessment of love's powerful and positive impact on a …

Conformable Kate: Identity And Power In The Taming Of The Shrew, Helen R. Ball

The Confluence

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is often read as an exploration of power dynamics and abuse, leaving readers to question the extent of Katherine’s power and autonomy in her marriage to Petruchio. Some believe Katherine manages to control her husband, Petruchio, while others believe Petruchio successfully 'tames' her. This essay explores such a question and seeks to answer which character holds the most power within the play. Using textual evidence from the play, scholarship from Natasha Korda’s writing on domesticity and commodity structures in Shakespeare's time, and Gary Schneider’s ideas of the public and private sectors of …

Túrin Was Dead: To Begin With. Death, Fate, And A Happy Ending In The Book Of Lost Tales, Thomas Hillman Phd

Journal of Tolkien Research

The final weight of the Tale of the Children of Húrin is crushing. Only the prophecy that Túrin will slay Melkor in the Last Battle offers any relief. Yet its first version, “Turambar and the Foalókë,” has an ending one might call happy. For Túrin’s death is not the end of his story, but its turning point. A coda details the afterlife of Túrin and Nienor, which begins in sorrow and ends in joy, but it is Fionwë, not Túrin, who kills Melkor (LT I 219; II 116). By the “Sketch of the Mythology” in 1926 Túrin has replaced Fionwë, …

“Restless And Uneasy…Thin And Stretched”: The Ring, The Ringbearers, And Bodies In Psychological Crisis In Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings., Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

The attachment that Tolkien’s Ring-bearers have for the Ring, a twisted and perverted form of love, is sterile and barren; it leaves those affected unable to settle and form fruitful, loving relationships with others, an effect that Tolkien referred to as a “Ring-restlessness.” Gollum, Bilbo, and Frodo all suffer, to their own degree, from the psychological crisis caused by the Ring that renders them uneasy and agitated. This paper examines this crisis through a psychological lens, exploring how the Ringbearers are living in discord with their true selves, and struggling with the meaninglessness of life that the Ring leaves behind.

Grief, Grieving, And Permission To Mourn In The Quenta Silmarillion, Dawn M. Walls-Thumma

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien asserted on multiple occasions that death was a primary theme of his work, and there are over ninety deaths of named characters in the Quenta Silmarillion alone. In reading the Quenta Silmarillion as historiography, the universality and psychologically powerful experience of death, grief, and mourning allows the narrators of the Quenta Silmarillion to shape how readers perceive characters, events, and themes in the text. Assuming Pengolodh as the primary narrator, this paper investigates how Tolkien used a limited, flawed, and biased narrative point of view as a strategy to shape reader responses and theme. Characters who die in the …

Tolkien And Attachment Theory : A Theory To Bind Them All?, Lelie Bremont

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien and Attachment theory: One Theory to Bind Them All?

Ever since the first publication of The Hobbit in 1937, Tolkien’s works have been dominating the fantasy genre, often imitated but rarely equalled. Dozens of scholars over decades have looked for the reason behind this success, the secret ingredient that made Middle-earth so compelling.

Nicole Guédeney is a French psychiatrist specializing in Attachment Theory. Attachment Theory emerged in the early 20^th century and combines psychology with anthropology and ethnology to explore the early attachments created between a baby and the adults surrounding them and how these attachments determine the …

Perceiving The Perceiver: “Viewing” Sauron Through The Gestalt Theory Of Perception, Cameron Bourquein

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper uses Gestalt theory, the Gestalt laws of perception, and the reception theory of Wolfgang Iser to elucidate the character “Sauron” as he appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power, and Tolkien’s wider legendarium. It argues firstly that Sauron’s high degree of indeterminacy and ambiguity suggests he can be read as a gestalt entity, one the reader creates by mentally constructing a whole from (seemingly) disparate parts. Building on the semiotics work of Nagy (2013), it argues that Sauron in The Lord of the Rings can be read as gestalt across the spatial, …

Fears And Pains And Rages: The Psychology Of Gandalf's Anger, Nicholas Birns

Journal of Tolkien Research

We are used to seeing emotions in Tolkien as coded morally. Lust or possessiveness is evil whereas care and forbearance are good. There are some emotions, though, that cross these moral boundaries and one of these is anger Moreover, anger in Tolkien is very coded in terms of gender, as it is nearly always male rage. After examining the cases of Saruman and Wormtongue (angry because the world will not cooperate with their plans) and Thingol (angry because he realizes he has just postponed his doom rather than staved it off), we will examine the case of Gandalf. Gandalf is …

“The Best Storyteller In The World:” Gwydion, Court Poetry, And Statecraft In The Fourth Branch Of The Mabinogi, Abigail Fathauer '25

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

Gwydion, the trickster protagonist of The Mabinogi, orchestrates the plot and manipulates those around him. His trickery ultimately results in political shifts, changes, and even wars, reflecting his role as a powerful player in the text. Moreover, Gwydion's use of poetry, knowledge, and words to enact his schemes and manipulations reflects the power of poets in medieval Welsh courts. My thesis argues that Gwydion's use of poetry to manipulate the politics around him reflects the power of poetry to craft nation states, as medieval Welsh poets did.

Just War, Pacifism, And Inevitability Of Conflict: Tolkien’S Changing Attitudes To War, Alexander Retakh

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien’s approach to war is often considered through the lens of “just war” theory. Its main principles are the necessity of a just cause for war, proper conduct in battle, and the use of proper weapons; if possible, war should be avoided. The Lord of the Rings suggests an ethical framework inspired by this theory; however, the earlier Legendarium is more accepting of military conflicts and their harsh reality. Tolkien's attitude to war appears to shift in the mid-late 1930s, the time of intense debates about just war and pacifism among British Catholics. This paper discusses the evolution of his …

C. S. Lewis And The Process Of Sanctification: A Literary Analysis Of Till We Have Faces, Samantha Fullmer

Student Research

This article analyzes C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces as a mythical representation of the Christian process of sanctification. Through the main character, Orual, and her transformation, Lewis portrays the Christian journey from pride to love through submission to divine intervention. This tale reveals how pride and self-deception can prevent humanity from recognizing the truth of the Divine. Orual’s story illustrates that the barriers between humanity and the Divine often come placed there by humanity themselves. By examining the process of transforming from hubris to love through sanctification, and by comparing this narrative to other works by Lewis, such …

"Kindred Shadows: The Family Resemblance Between Charles Williams’S Metaphysical Thrillers And Clive Barker’S Horror Visions", Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Last year, during 2024, I underwent an extended phase of reading practically everything published by the horror writer Clive Barker. While reading the books, I kept noticing scenes and characteristics of his novels that made me think of Charles Williams’ supernatural thrillers.