Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Negro In Literature, A. W. Arnaud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces the development of the Negro in American literature from its origins in the spirituals through the flowering of the "New Negro" Renaissance of the early twentieth century. Arnaud opens by defining literature as the artistic record of a people's inner life and argues that Negro literary expression developed first through song, tracing the movement from oral spirituals through the early poetry of the enslaved and freed population toward increasingly sophisticated literary forms.

The thesis presents Paul Laurence Dunbar as the foremost early exponent of Negro poetry, examining his biography and his work in both classic English verse …

Book Review. Charles Dickens As A Legal Historian By W. S. Holdsworth, Fowler V. Harper

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Modern Youth And Literature (With Emphasis Upon Creative Education), Ralph Westerman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In writing a thesis dealing with such an amazingly wide subject as modern youth one is staggered by the quantities of material that one must read. It is true that most of the research work concerning the young American is propaganda of one kind of another: someone must prove that youth is degenerate; or someone must prove that youth is god-like. Between these two extremes much has been written in an attempt to prove that youth is simply youth--little or no different from the youth of any other age. It is all very illuminating and it is all a bit …

English Scholars Of The Renaissance, Laura Backes

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Some Aspects Of The Intellectual Poise Of George Robert Gissing, Glenn Orville Kelley

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Thls study, Some Aspects of the Intellectual Poise of George Robert Gising, had its inception in a course in The Novel, an Intepretation of Life, offered by Doctor Frederick A. Stuff in the summer session of the University of Nebraska in 1926. More narrowly, it began with that part of the course treating of the mode in literature known as realism. In one reference, Wilson Follett's The Modern Novel, was found the following statement relative to the novels of George Gissing, an author of whom the writer of this thesis had not previously heard.

"Hardly any parallel could show …

The Song In Elizabethan Drama With Particular Reference To Its Function In Shakespeare, John Joseph Plamondon

Master's Essays (1922 - )

We have approached our study of the song in Elizabethan Drama with the intention of accounting for the abundance of vocal music in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and of explaining the use of song as a dramatic device. It has been considered necessary to a proper understanding of the place of song in the Romantic Drama to give a rather broad treatment of the subject, including a brief history of the song in the English theatre, the psychology of its origin, and the cause of its decline. Methods of presenting songs have been discussed to strengthen our …

The Origin And Development Of Pre-Shakespearean Comedy, Fannye Charlotte Forman

Bachelors’ Theses

The early history of English Comedy is a record of successive effort and experiments apparently leading to no result. In the early moralities as in the Miracle plays, there are flashes of humour; in the later moralities there are scenes in which "the effort to paint the riotous course of Youth, though not very amusing to modern readers, is sufficiently faithful to bring us within sight of a possible comedy of manners. But the morality-writer was far from entertaining any conception of comedy as an end in itself. His aim remained to the last purely didactic. It did not, indeed, …

The Historical Novel, Emmett J. Sweeney

Bachelors’ Theses

This thesis undertakes to give the reader an outline of the historical background of the English Historical novel, from its inception to the time of Walter Scott.

The Victorian Compromise As Embodied In Tennyson's "In Memoriam", Eula G. Stark

Bachelors’ Theses

A representative bock cannot be considered apart from the age it reflects.

"All great writers, are in a very real sense, the products cf the age of which they are the children; their work is modified and their range is limited by the sentiments and opinions prevalent in their time." Especially is this true of Tennyson, for most all writers who treat of him intelligently express in some form or another the opinion that Tennyson is representative of his age. But we wish to call that especial period he so peculiarly embodies in "In Memoriam" as the era of the …

The Poetry Of William Butler Yeats And The Celtic Spirit, Francis Joseph Mccarthy

Bachelors’ Theses

The Irish Literary movement of our time is the most interesting artistic event since the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It exhibits the same combination of diverse personalities and gifts dominated by one common aim and directed toward one single end.

Fantasy In Shakespeare, Barrie And Yeats, Dorothy Anne Dawe

Bachelors’ Theses

Shakespeare, Barrie and Yeats. What a diversity of thoughts and ideas their manes present. Each ts a genius, and each is different from the other, for geniuses are never like any other people. Each has become a literary success through a different media. And yet they are alike in one respect. They all possess that quality of "Fantasy". They have each inculcated that spirit into their works, and hence are kindred in one respect at least.

A History And Study Of The Critical Essay, Matthew Coogan

Bachelors’ Theses

The Essay as a form in literary practice found its origin in the sixteenth century in the writings of Michel Montaigne. As Montaigne used it, the essay was a personal, chatty, intimate discourse between the author and the reader. John Richard Green described it very nicely when he wrote that "the essayist (Montaigne) is a gentleman who chats to a world of gentle men and whose chat is shaped and coloured by a sense of what he owes to his company and what he owes to his subject." This while it characterizes the essay of Montaigne, hardly covers the scope …

The Classicism Of John Milton, Louise Catherine Dederich

Bachelors’ Theses

Every writer, whether immortal or unknown, whether philosopher or humorist, ones his style or at least its foundation to some earlier writer. Though conscious or unconscious, there is always a trace of another's influence. In the works of some writers we behold a conscious modeling. They have studied sane chosen paragon- analyzed him and made him a part of themselves. They imitate and try to perfect him. They copy and improve upon his genius. In others we find an influence which may have been wholly indeliberate. Satis­faction and keen appreciation have led the author to bestow his attention upon some …

Literary Origins Of John Henry Cardinal Newman, Anne M. De Laney

Bachelors’ Theses

A man's name is inscribed in a Biographical Dictionary by the date of his birth; but in reality it is his death that ranges him in the heart and mind of humanity.

Contributary factors to his imminent greatness are often minimized in importance; and yet those factors are essentially so many milestones in the way of his achievements.

Even so it is with Newman. Biographers have given us certain facts concerning his life; critics have told us the relative value of his. writings; while time has told us of his unique greatness. It is admittedly difficult in a biographical sketch. …

Investigations Of English Euphuism, James Richard Barnett

Bachelors’ Theses

The Revival of Learning during the century between 1450 and 1550 as a reopening of the ancient masterpieces of poetical, dramatic and philosophical literature. Men suddenly came into a vast, unprecedented fortune, and for a long while did not know how to use it. Realization of the pricelessness of their new possession seemed to demand that their very lan­guage should be in a concatenation accordingly. As a result of this ambition, certain affectations of style in both writing and speech sprang up in cultured circles throuhout the whole of Europe. These affectations spread like an epidemic. One form arose in …

The Novels Of Thomas Hardy: A Study Of Radical Pessimism, Marie J. Bub

Bachelors’ Theses

Although Thomas Hardy is still alive hundreds of criticisms and estimations of his works have been written. In past ages man believed in a certain commandment which read: "Thou shalt not judge thy contemporaries." But this was later questioned and repudiated by men with some degree of enthusiasm for truth of a kind. For, said they, if a man's contemporaries understand him not, who shall? At least there are truths and views of him that must be caught alive or, like the flower once blown, forever die. "And just as a man's biography, if it be worth writing at all, …

Social Satire In The Augustan Age, Franklyn P. Biever

Bachelors’ Theses

Satire and the satirist have been in evidence in well-nigh all the ages of the world's history. It is part of man's nature to seek entertainment, but often the object of his pleasure is the ridicule of an individual, the community at large, or some cause. When the human comedy of men and manners is out of gear through the tyranny of either over the other, and existence is become a travesty and a caricature of life, heavy and lumbering, then, when men can neither laugh or weep, comes satire and the satirist to break the congestion in them and …

The Technique Of The Drama Of John Galsworthy, Irene Louise Edwards

Bachelors’ Theses

Since 1906 when John Galsworthy published "The Silver Box", he has produced nineteen dramas and a number of one act plays; and Phelps says "he has produced nothing negligible". (Phelps: "Essays on Modern Dramatists" p. 100 ). In his very first play, he used a technique which he has continued to follow with more or less precision and perfection in the later dramas ( except "The Little Dream"). He did not flounder about as did the pacemakers of modern drams. He found his medium ready-made for him in naturalism, and he adopted it. It was the most suitable for the …

The History Of The Deductive Detective Story From Poe To Freeman And Bailey With A Critical Comparison, Raymond F. Erz

Bachelors’ Theses

Ever since the beginning of man universal interest has been centered about these three magnetic words: MYSTERY, INTRIGUE, ADVENTURE. A famous author once said, "All the world's a stage and we are the actors in it. This in every respect is true for ourselves as well as for every­ body else. Plots are being formulated to shorten the ex­istence of one character for the other, the act is done, the stage is minus a personage, the actors hesitate, and the show goes on.

The Ethical Aspects Of The Shavian Theatre, Bertha R. Ott

Bachelors’ Theses

Few dramatists are so widely discussed, so excessively journalized as is George Bernard Shaw, and, as a result, few are more misunderstood. Many consider him a hero, accepting all his dictums with no critical observations on their own part, and, on the other hand, many denounce him whole-heartedly as an insincere iconoclast who is entirely negative and destructive. It is my purpose to show that Shaw is neither of these, -- that his philosophy of life as set forth in the plays is either constructive in a certain sense, or, if destructive, destructive only so far as it is necessary …

John Millington Synge And The Irish Dramatic Revival, Ethel L. Kuehn

Bachelors’ Theses

If poetry be “emotion remembered in tranquillity," as Wordsworth said, then drama is, or must seem to be, emotion visualized in action. Drama, by its nature,- can come into being only when men are moved powerfully and suddenly to record the circumstances of life; for the dramatic form is the most exacting of literary forms, demanding a high and sustained emotion in the author. The great ages of drama have thus been those when life has been raised to an unusual intensity, or viewed with an excited surprise. The artist may take what he desires from life, and, letting all …

Contemporary American Drama: William Vaughn Moody And Eugene O'Neil, Helen F. Corrigan

Bachelors’ Theses

In any study of contemporary American drama, two names inevitably stand out from among the myriads of native playwrights - those names - William Vaughn Moody and Eugene O'Neil. Yet neither of these can be literary pigeon-holed. Moody's death prevented him reaching his full development. Consequently his work is mostly indicative - indicative of what it might have been had he lived.

The Picaresque Novel Of Spain, Marjorie T. Dorn

Bachelors’ Theses

Review of books on the picaresque novel, and their treatment of the subject. The importance of this field of literature. The picaresque type as mainly and typically Spanish.

Auintus Horatius Flaccus, Epicurean Stoic, Anthony B. Caffrey

Bachelors’ Theses

To fully appreciate the character and work of a great man, we must first visualize his life environ­ment and contemporary history. Such details may seem tiresome, as indeed they are, but that does not pre­vent them from having a tremendous influence upon such a character and such work. To the reader, dates and facts of history become very boring, so we will endeavor to eliminate them from our study, as much as possible.

In Venusia, a small town of southern Italy, on December 8, 65 B.C. Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born. His parents, like all parents, must have entertained great …

Genuis Loci And The Literary Sincerity, Vernon Lee (Violet Paget)

Vernon Lee: Manuscripts, Published Works, and Typescripts

No abstract provided.

The Tempest (Selections), William Shakespeare, Arthur Rackham

As Good Luck Would Have It: The Rich Tradition of Shakespeare Scholarship in the Library

Selection of illustrations from Arthur Rackham's edition of Shakespeare's The Tempest

The Etymology Of An English Expletive, Louise Pound

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Professor G. P. Krapp makes an attractive case for his derivation of darn, darned in the brief essay on this word in his recent The English Language in America. He discards the usual explanation that darn is a variant or minced form of damn, and believes that, although it now stands in intimate relation to damn, it had an independent origin. He takes as his starting point the Old English adjective dierne, 'secret,' Middle English derne, Elizabethan dern, and assumes a transition from a descriptive adjective or adverb to an imprecation. The adjective took …

The Origin And Development Of The Arthurian Story In English Literature To The Nineteenth Century, Nadine Matlock Sease

Masters Theses

"It is the purpose of this paper to trace the story of the Arthurian romance from its origin to the nineteenth century with especial reference to the literature of the English language"--pages 1-2.

The Renaissance Paradox In Spenser., Juretta V. Bamber 1898-1981

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complex phenomenon known as the Renaissance stimulated man with an insatiable curiosity in all things that had to do with human life and activity. The powerful searchlight of curiosity was especially turned on the ancient world – its learning, art, and literature – with a resultant diffusion of light so widespread that its influence is incalculable. In Italy, which in the fourteenth century saw the dawn of the Renaissance, “a glorious sumptuousness” of life prevailed. Ostentation, manifesting itself in brilliant dress, in beautiful homes, in wealth, and in magnificence of every kind, characterized the new movement. The Renaissance insisted …

Adolescence In Recent Fiction, Sarah T. Sisson

Graduate Thesis Collection

No teacher or parent, who comes in contact with the period of life extending from the advent of puberty to the attainment of maturity and known technically as Adolescence, can fail to appreciate, aside from any biological or psychological training which he may have had, that these years are full of storm and uncertainty in an attempt to gain control through harmonious functioning of body, mind, and soul.