Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

Singing The Story: Narrative Voice And The Old English Scop, Lisa M. Horton

The Hilltop Review

The picture of Anglo-Saxon society that we receive through its literature is a direct result of the life of the Old English scop. His personality and experiences filter into the stories that he tells and provide nuanced interpretations of both histories and legends, while his position within Anglo-Saxon society allows him direct access to the great events and persons of his time. As an active participant in his society, at the feet or even at the right hand of a king, he wields profound influence; as an observer and commentator on his society, he records and interprets both reality and …

Treason And Betrayal In The Middle English Romances Of Sir Gawain, Gregory L. Laing

The Hilltop Review

This article explores the themes of treason and betrayal which are common motifs of medieval romances, specifically those featuring the Arthurian knight Sir Gawain. Because loyalty to one’s lord, nation, or family unit was critical for survival in the Middle Ages, the problem of treachery by close companions is often a recurring subject in romances from this period. Such themes revealed to their audience the fragility of these relationships and cautioned against overconfidence in the bonds of loyalty. Romances featuring Gawain, like the Middle English Awntyrs off Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, conclude with the young …

Finding The ‘I’ In Imagination: “Kubla Khan” As The Solution To The Problem Of The Individual In Coleridge’S The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Kevin Drzakowski

The Hilltop Review

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is commonly read as a poem extolling the graces of Christian hospitality. Once the Mariner “inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good women,” both the reader and the Mariner are barraged with a catalogue of suffering that is only lifted when the Mariner finally learns to praise even that which is foreign to him. The result is a poem that, read in this fashion, seems guilty of overt moralizing, even though it claims to legitimize that moralizing through its presentation as an archaic ballad. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was, in spite of his fanatical devotion …

Historicizing The Present In 9/11 Fiction, Todd Kuchta

Re-visioning Terrorism

Reconfiguring the debate on the historical efficacy of postmodern fiction, novels inspired by 9/11 seek to view the present itself as history. McEwan’s Saturday, DeLillo’s Falling Man, and Hamid’s Reluctant Fundamentalist attempt to move beyond the view of history-as-text. Rather than evoking “the presence of the past,” they present characters trying to situate themselves in a new historical reality. Žižek’s account of Lacan illuminates DeLillo’s attempt to historicize the present, while McEwan gestures toward Foucault’s view of the present as exit. Only Hamid engages the historical potential of the present.

The Privilege Of Ambivalence: Saturday’S Henry Perowne On The ‘War On Terror’, Jax Lee Gardner

Re-visioning Terrorism

This essay considers the relation between personal privilege (class, race, nationality, sex) and political ambivalence toward the Iraq war as it manifests in the protagonist of Ian McEwan’s Saturday. Henry Perowne “feels culpable somehow, but helpless too” in his shifting opinions of the coming invasion. Throughout the text we are shown Henry’s multiple perspectives regarding Iraq. Such ambivalence is, in itself, a form of complicity in war. Henry neither tangibly opposes the actions of the government (as the protesters do), nor does he consider sacrificing any of his creature comforts in support of the war (as the soldiers do). I …

The King's Speech: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Shakespeare's Henry Iv, Part I, Chance Sweat

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship has explored the “Machiavellian” actions of Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 ; yet the classical rhetorical pedagogy of Renaissance Britain suggests that the speeches in the play lead to a transformation in Hal that is antithetical to the emergent understanding of Hal as a great manipulator. Falstaff uses the ruse of rhetoric instructor in order to construct a classical rhetorical argument for his own ends, and Henry IV gives a passionate yet formally adept (and classically rhetorical) plea to his son in order to incite change. An analysis of Falstaff and Henry’s arguments as well as …

Adoptive Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Open Versus Closed Adoptions, Begum Nebol

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author presents a research study on adoptive parents’ perceptions of their own open versus closed adoptions. The main research interest behind this study was to identify similarities and differences between open versus closed adoption methods. Thus, this paper offers description and exploratory analysis of the adoption literature as well as discussion of the findings of this research study

The Dark Continent: Europe's Encroachment Upon English Identity In Jane Eyre And Villette, Derek Williams

All Theses

ABSTRACT
Although there has been a deafening critical silence regarding Charlotte Bront‘'s representation of Continental identity in Jane Eyre (1847), this thesis argues that the Continental identity, as it appears in Jane Eyre, is a collection of negative cultural traits stereotypical of the Latinate countries and Germany. By creating associations between characters that embody English national identity and those that are an emblem of Continental identity, Bront‘ de-legitimizes the notion of national identity. Furthermore, her novels, specifically Jane Eyre and Villette (1853) highlight the fact that both France and Germany, elements of the Continental identity, are a central presence in …

The Canterbury Tales: Chaucer's Respectful Critique Of Church Officials And Their Abuse Of Power, Lauren Day

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Geoffrey Chaucer was a religious poet-diplomat in 14th century England and as such was in a unique position at court. He used his work, The Canterbury Tales, to critique certain church officials and their practices, which he believed had become more for monetary gain than for the service of the people.

Imperial Boyhood: Piracy And The Play Ethic, Bradley Deane

English Publications

Representations of perpetual boyhood came to fascinate the late Victorians, partly because such images could naturalize a new spirit of imperial aggression and new policies of preserving power. This article traces the emergence of this fantasy through a series of stories about the relationship of the boy and the pirate, figures whose opposition in mid-Victorian literature was used to articulate the moral legitimacy of colonialism, but who became doubles rather than antitheses in later novels, such as R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Masculine worth needed no longer to be measured by reference to transcendent, …

Ecopoetics And The Origins Of English Literature, Paul Siewers

Faculty Contributions to Books

An ecocritical survey of early English literature, focusing on the "green world" trope.

The Ecosemiosphere: Story And Region In Insular Medieval Literatures, Paul Siewers

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

Reflections on the interrelation of environmental humanities studies, physics and semiotics, as part of an international panel introducing ecosemiotics and biosemiotics to the North American ecocriticism communtiy at large.

The Irish Odyssey Of James Mccarroll, Michael Peterman

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Why The Greater Good Is Good: Lessons From Harry Potter, Maureen Zach

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

For me, this paper was an opportunity to bring Harry Potter into academia by evaluating a serious moral and philosophical concept, the greater good, with J.K. Rowling’s beloved series. In the end, we see that society could do well to learn from Harry’s selflessness in working for the greater good.

Charlotte Brontë'S Villette And Sigmund Freud's Dora: An Analysis Of A Case Of Hysteria: Lucy Snowe's Narrative Ambiguity As Dora's Self-Analysis, Sarah Madeline Brokaw

Honors Scholar Theses

Critics of Charlotte Brontë’s “Villette” note that Lucy Snowe, the mysterious and provocative narrator, fulfills two initiatives: providing interpretation through her obsessive observant analysis of other characters, and provoking the reader’s interpretation in the reader by her deliberate omission of any information pertaining to her past and unexplained lapses in intelligence and sanity. “Villette” is often associated Sigmund Freud’s “Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria” because of the similarity between the two young, likely traumatized, female protagonists and the possibility of mapping characters from one narrative onto the other. However, the complex interaction between the two texts allows …

The Like Of Us Will Never Be Again" A Comparative Analysis Of The Contributions Of The Blasket Authors: Peig Sayers, Tomás O Criomhthain, And Muiris O Suilleabhain, Kelly Frances O'Donnell

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper will discuss, compare, and contrast the three main works of the Blasket Island authors: Peig, by Peig Sayers, The Islandman by Tomas O'Crohan, and Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan. It will seek to identify unique elements of style, content, and purpose among the three authors, and in doing so will illuminate each piece's contributions to Blasket lore. Collectively, the paper should serve as a thorough introduction to Blasket literature and its overall place in Irish literature

From Monsters To Victims: Vampires And Their Cultural Evolution From The Nineteenth To The Twenty-First Century, Caitlyn Orlomoski

Honors Scholar Theses

Vampires are the latest fad to appear on pop-culture’s radar, dominating literature, film, and television, but this is not the first time they have latched onto the public consciousness. These bloodsuckers have been a constant presence in literature and film since the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, arguably the most influential vampire text of all time. Even before Dracula, vampires permeated Eastern European folklore, supposedly terrorizing small rustic communities in the dark of the night and acting as scapegoats for almost anything the locals could neither change nor understand. Since that time, vampires have represented society’s fears …

Fulfillment Of Woman And Poet In Elizabeth Barrett Brown's Aurora Leigh, Beth Leonardo

English Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Perpetual Creation And Provocation Of The Self, Krista Damico

Senior Honors Projects

The Perpetual Creation and Provocation of the Self

Krista D’Amico

Faculty Sponsor: Stephen Barber, English

This project consists of four related parts. The first part is a critical and creative work of prose in which I converse with the thought of two philosophers, namely Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze. This conversation enables me to present my own thought and subjectivity in relationship to a very important aspect of my life: music-making. The second part of my project is a critical essay in which I contemplate the work of another artist, Virginia Woolf, and the way that her credo Three Guineas (1938) …

Metaphasia: Shelley And The Language Of Remoter Worlds, Michael Andrew Howell

Master's Theses

The aim of this project was to trace the evolution of Percy Shelley's metaphasic narrative, or language of the dead, chronologically through the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Mont Blanc, and Prometheus Unbound. Proceeding from Earl Wasserman's detailed map of Shelley's mythopoeic structure, I charted this evolution while identifying a fifth discrete entity within the mythological hierarchy of what Harold Bloom has characterized as a "mythopoeic trilogy" (36). Concurrently, I examined the ongoing debate concerning Shelley's influences, as well as the early formation of his personality, as it pertains to the poems in question, and his fascination with worlds beyond the …