Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

“The Gift Which Was Withheld I Take”: The Rape Of The Sun Maiden In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Kristine Larsen

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

From Once To Future Queen: Revitalizing Guinevere In Recent Arthuriana, Michael A. Torregrossa

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Painting “The Most Beautiful Of All The Children Of Ilúvatar”: Aesthetic Beauty In The Silmarillion And Its Illustrations, Marie Bretagnolle

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Witches, Prophets, And Outcasts: Liminal Women In Mythopoeic Fantasy, Supriya Baijal

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Reimagining Human-Nonhuman Friendships Through Feminist Animal Studies: An Exploration Of Sunny And Della’S Cross-Species Friendship In Nnedi Okorafor’S The Nsibidi Scripts Series, Akshitha Javahar

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

“Her Hair Was Held A Marvel Unmatched”: The Significance Of Long, Blonde Hair In Tolkien’S Imagination, Sara Brown

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Keynote: Still Perilous, Still Fair: Perspectives On The Legacy, Or How (Not)Éowyn And (Not) Galadriel Made The Magic Work, Leslie Donovan, Janet Brennan Croft

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Welcome And Announcements, The Mythopoeic Society

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Join us for a screening of the Welcome and Announcements video and have a cup of coffee before we get started!

"Things That Were, Things That Are, And Things That Yet May Be": The Matter Of Time In The Faërie Realms Of Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Noelia Ramos

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien’s feelings and relationship to Celtic themes are more nuanced than a simple binary of aversion versus passion. As he professed to Stanley Unwin—"Needless to say they are not Celtic!" (Letters #19)—his stance encompassed both resistance and fascination. His essay On Fairy-Stories, originally delivered as the Andrew Lang Lecture in 1939, can be seen as an early foundation for concepts later developed in The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955). In this context, the concept of fiction and the secondary world—particularly regarding the nature of time—is notably prominent, drawing parallels to the Celtic Otherworld.

This study aims to analyze …

Beyond World War I: Post-War Trauma In Agatha Christie’S The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Alayna Puckett

All Theses

This thesis reexamines Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles as a literary response and representation to World War I, arguing that it deserves recognition as a novel of wartime trauma rather than being confined solely to the realm of popular detective fiction. Influenced by Christie’s firsthand experiences as a wartime nurse, the novel subtly weaves themes of personal wartime experience and trauma into its plot, characters, and setting. Christie’s protagonist, Mr. Hastings, represents the returning soldier attempting to reintegrate into society, while Hercule Poirot—a Belgian refugee—embodies the war’s broader displacement and disruption. Set during World War I in a …

The Substance Of Reality: Moral Perfectionism In Shakespeare's Hamlet., David Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through a selection of and close reading of key passages, I offer an interpretation of Hamlet that seeks to illuminate the play as an important work of moral philosophy, and to situate the play within a strand of moral philosophy named moral perfectionism by Stanley Cavell. Indeed, Hamlet is a masterpiece of Renaissance drama, but when read with attention to moral perfectionism, the play yields additional layers of meaning. Hamlet is a “philosophical drama” that navigates the “moral calling of philosophy”—a text that seems to, almost uncannily, elicit the audience to think reflectively, to ask fundamental human questions along …

Exploring Victorian Era Class And Culture: Representation Of The Working Class Through Joseph Skipsey's Poetry, Nathasya Josephine

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

Representation of minorities has always been a problem in publication. This is especially true in Victorian society, where class stratification was rampant and class distinctions were marked as normal. As a result, many authors from underprivileged communities are overshadowed by the influential literary giants we now know as the Canons. This paper aims to shed light on one of the unknown voices representing Victorian working-class society. Specifically, it will discuss Joseph Skipsey, a working-class author who writes poems about his daily life and struggles as a miner. The focus will be on two of his poems: "Get Up" and The …

No One Listens To Melian: When Women Speak And Men Ignore Them In Middle-Earth, Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

Throughout J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, opportunities exist for male characters to participate in and learn from the wisdom and experience offered by female characters: what is remarkable is how often they fail to do so. The consequences of this failure are often considerable, ranging from a failed marriage (Aldarion and Erendis) to the loss of an entire kingdom (Melian and Thingol). However, on one occasion where a female character, Aredhel, is listened to, she is then severely punished via the narrative. The question must therefore be asked – what is Tolkien telling us about this gendered space of learning?

Beowulf And Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods Of Hrothgar And Gandalf, Ali Mirzabayati

Journal of Tolkien Research

Most studies on the character of Théoden in The Lord of the Rings center on Germanic heroic themes like courage and oath-keeping, often emphasizing his renewal by Gandalf at Meduseld and his death at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. This perspective overlooks Théoden's growth in wisdom and hope between these events. During this period, Théoden learns about the various forces in Middle-earth and contemplates his role in the broader world, leading to a profound sense of humility. Building on Tolkien's inspiration from Beowulf, this paper compares Théoden and Beowulf to explore their learning processes and heroic outcomes. This comparison …

Representing Middle-Earth: Tolkien, Form, And Ideology (2024), By Robert T. Tally, Jr., Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Nook review, by Andrew Higgins, of Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr.

Mr. Hyde And His Representation Of Alcoholism, Jacob S. Capes

NEXUS: The Liberty Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

This essay explores The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson through the lens of addiction psychology, drawing parallels between Dr. Jekyll’s descent into madness and the stages of alcoholism as defined by the DSM-5. By interpreting Jekyll’s relationship with his transformative elixir as a metaphor for alcohol abuse, the analysis traces his progression through early experimentation, growing dependency, and eventual loss of control, aligning with the three clinical stages of alcohol use disorder. The essay further examines how intelligence and genetic predisposition—two key risk factors for addiction—contribute to Jekyll’s vulnerability, incorporating both modern scientific …

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.