Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Kenneth Burke's Poetic Metaphor And Obama As Poet, Devon S. Cook

BYU English Symposium

This essay connects Kenneth Burke’s briefly used poetic metaphor with his theories on the use of “poetic” language in the essay “Semantic and Poetic Meaning.” What results from this synthesis is a critical tool for rhetorical analysis which allows for the discussion of style as a vehicle for communication about ethics and morals in public discourse. Obama’s The Audacity of Hope is used as the example of a text which uses “poetic” language in order to discuss moral and ethical issues in a national arena. Obama ultimately dramatizes his own synthesis of values, putting himself in the position of a …

A Holler To My Sisters On Welfare: Mothers In The Works Of Shakur And Hughes, Wesley Turner

BYU English Symposium

For the purposes of this paper, I will juxtapose the work of Tupac Shakur with Langston Hughes in order to reveal Shakur’s engagement with African American literary history. Both Hughes and Shakur have recurring maternal relationships in their works. However, both artists incorporate these relationships very differently. Hughes primarily discussed mothers and children in order to show how far African Americans have come in gaining equal rights in their country. His mother-child relationships are ones that hope for continued steps towards equality and a breakdown of the black/white color line. Shakur, however, discusses children and mothers in the context of …

Religion In Young Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Natasha B. Mickelson

BYU English Symposium

Young adult contemporary realistic fiction attempts to portray real life, and readers of these novels should be able to relate to the characters therein. While many YA novels deal with controversial topics in an attempt to be realistic, one aspect of life still largely considered a literary “taboo” is religion.

Through examining studies done and looking at a sample of novels in the YA contemporary realistic fiction genre I found that most of these books either mention nothing about the religious beliefs and backgrounds of their characters or religion is portrayed negatively. Since this genre attempts to portray real-life teenagers, …

The Castle Of Otranto As A Christmas Ghost Story, Conor Hilton

BYU English Symposium

The seasonal Christmas ghost story tradition pre-dates Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but the narrative is filled with holes. Some place The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole within this narrative, striving to fill the gaps that exist. Despite the novel’s publication on Christmas Eve and note in the preface that it is part of the canon of the Church of St. Nicholas, the evidence is too thin to make a definitive claim that Otranto was written as a Christmas ghost story. In fact, examining newspaper archives from the eighteenth century surrounding the publication of Otranto, delving into …

Oz: A Reflection Of America, Monica D. Allen

BYU English Symposium

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was one of America’s first fairy tales. As such America is embedded, as well as outright discussed, in the book. It is quite clear that around the turn of the century Baum saw the need for a change in America involving the economy and leadership, and noted that this change was beginning to take place. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reflects this and in his book, Baum brings two conflicting ideas of what America was becoming—the Emerald City—and what he thought America should be like—the rest of Oz, specifically the Munchkin …

Pay No Attention To That Man: Government Crimes In The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Isaac Lyman

BYU English Symposium

L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" demonstrates the deeper motivations behind his editorials on the treatment of Native Americans in the 19th century. Specifically, the principal kingdoms and rulers of the novel mistreat and endanger their constituents in the same way that 19th-century governments marginalized and oppressed the scarcest and weakest of their country's denizens. The Winged Monkeys of Oz exhibit the characteristics of a society of "noble savages," words Baum used to lament and encourage the extermination of the Native Americans, amid heated cultural concerns about the safety of white settlers after the Wounded Knee Massacre. The …

Baum's Dorothy And The Power Of Identity, Camille Pay

BYU English Symposium

L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz portrays a relationship between Dorothy as an individual and Oz as a whole; however, this relationship has been viewed by critics as solely political. Dorothy penetrated Oz deeper than political interference, though: she enabled those around her by helping them in personal ways. When Dorothy first entered Oz, she acted as a political catalyst, but throughout the story, she became a more intimate leader by enabling those around her. She made it possible for her companions to act, later helping them to be leaders themselves. Through Baum’s inclusion of Dorothy in The …

"That Lady, Sir, Is Her Own Mistress": Evelina's Condemnation Of Rape Culture, Rose Hadden

BYU English Symposium

Fanny Burney’s 18th Century novel Evelina is a canny critique of rape culture and the pervasive assumption of female consent. Evelina navigates a social world in which she nominally has the right to say no to anyone in any matter regarding her own body, but where that right is consistently undermined by social punishment, victim blaming, and deliberate ignorance. Earlier scholars have characterized Evelina’s compliance as a flaw in her character, a result of her lack of confidence and experience, but I contest that Burney’s text clearly absolves Evelina herself of all guilt. Burney instead condemns the society that would …

You Grow This Way: An Analysis Of Mother And Daughter Selves In Anne Sexton’S Poem “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman", Kennerley Roper

BYU English Symposium

The maternal speaker in Anne Sexton's poem “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman” speaks to her maturing daughter about the wonders of the female body by revising the literary tradition that already exists about the female body. What the speaker ultimately conveys to her daughter is the power the body has through the use of parallel body and earth imagery. However, the daughter is distanced from this notion through a contrasting image: the string bean. The speaker uses that distance to show the mixed images of entanglement and separation of mother and daughter in order to expound wisdom to …

Rhetorical Leadership: Intentionality And Communication, Katherine L. Neish

BYU English Symposium

This presentation aims to explore how intentionality factors into effective communication and the importance of this communication in the role of rhetorical leaders. Rhetorical leaders have an ethical responsibility to their followers to create a space in their conversations for constructive feedback, and rhetorical followers have an ethical responsibility to provide that feedback in a constructive manner. When both rhetorical leaders and rhetorical followers intentionally fulfill these responsibilities, they stand the best chance of being understood and furthering the pursuit of truth.

“The Black Cat:” A Reflection Of Pre-Civil War Slavery, Hannah Walker

BYU English Symposium

In 1843, Edgar Allan Poe published “The Black Cat” amid one of the most foreboding ages in American history: the pre-Civil War era. Critics often attempt to make sense of the violent plot of Poe’s classic by pointing to flaws in the human psyche or supernatural undertones which pervade many of Poe’s other pieces. However, by recognizing distinct parallels between the Southern practice of slavery and symbolic plot points in “The Black Cat,” readers can unveil richer implications behind Poe’s dark tale. Specifically, “The Black Cat” functions as a racial allegory that depicts the injustices of slavery and, ultimately, shows …

What Of "Kubla Khan"?, Pablo I. Tapia

BYU English Symposium

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "Kubla Khan," tends to avoid interpretation. Years of scholarship have approached the poem differently, and many critics have dismissed Coleridge's "Preface" to the poem, stating it is merely an explanation for the poem's incompleteness. This paper looks over several popular interpretations of the poem, but it attempts to establish that the "Preface has become part of the poem, not only for its description of the conditions the poem was written in, but also for Coleridge's process of creating poetry. Although some of the popular approaches shed light on bits and pieces of the poem, they fail …

American Masculinity As Presented By Walt Whitman, Corinn Pratt

BYU English Symposium

As a homosexual Romantic poet neither Walt Whitman nor his work would immediately come to mind as particularly masculine. However, through a brief historical look at what Whitman was learning about as well as a close reading at some of the text it is clear that Whitman paints a very masculine picture. Whitman uses the sexual act as a way to understand what it means to be a man with himself at the helm. Within “Children of Adam” is Whitman uses this ultimate fulfillment of gender relations to explore masculinity and ultimately paints himself as the embodiment of masculinity.

Transcription And Publication Of The Didymus Papyrus In Byu Special Collections, Lincoln H. Blumell

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In January 2013 I received a MEG in the amount of $19,707.00 to work on the transcription and publication of the twenty-two page Didymus Papyrus that is housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library. I am pleased to report that this project was very successful. The papyrus has been completely transcribed, translated, annotated, and indexed, and I expect within the next couple of months to submit the piece for publication. I have already secured a publisher for this very important papyrus and the series it will be a part of is the Papyrologische Texte und Abhandlungen out of …

The Folks Of The Postapocalypse: The Road, Religion, And Folklore Studies, Megan M. Toone

Student Works

Please use abstract submitted to enter conference if possible.

Presence In Absence In Shakespeare's King Lear, Kimberly Austin

Student Works

King Lear is imbedded with hidden Christian themes, expressed through characters like Cordelia and the Fool, to show that salvation and redemption can only be obtained in a world with Christ. The audience recognizes the absence of Christian principles in the play and through our desire for Christianity it becomes a present theme.The theory of presence in absence becomes clearer when analyzing Cordelia and the Fool. Their characteristics mimic those of Christ which reminds the audience of his absence in the play. Throughout the play King Lear repeats the theory of “nothing from nothing” and by analyzing this theme through …

"Pain, Death, And Nazis: The Surprisingly Beautiful Function Death Plays As Narrator In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief,", Sarah K. Johnson

Student Works

Death, pain, illness, and war often feature heavily into the plots of Young Adult fiction, and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is no exception. However, by presenting Death as the narrator of the novel, Zusak allows an outside, impartial view of humanity's pain, its causes, its effects, and its meanings. Through a close reading of The Book Thief this paper discovers that Death as a narrator reveals that pain is both unavoidable and necessary to life. Furthermore, though most everyone fears death, life, not death, causes the true pain. Through Death's haunting narration, pain confers eventual strength, endurance, and power. …

Black Intellectuals: The Transient Space Of Cultural Translation, Marissa Compton

Student Works

Among the many similarities between Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs, the similar storylines surrounding the black intellectual figures is among the most important, because the shared narrative allows each text to engage in a larger conversation concerning the role of intellectuals in the black community. Soyinka and Hansberry initially highlight the in-betweenness of black intellectuals as a seemingly positive mediatory role that allow for cultural translation and negotiation. Despite this initially positive perspective, Soyinka and Hansberry’s exploration of the mediatory role’s advantages is ultimately used to add weight the authors’ dramatization of …

Pervasive Parable: Christ And Ligeia, Todd Workman

Student Works

Common readings of "Ligeia" involve the sinister and supernatural. For many critics, Ligeia is a witch by default, shrouded in sorcery and evil powers. Alan Brown uses this kind of idea in his article, “Edgar Allan Poe’s Use of Gothic Conventions in ‘Ligeia;’” as he argues that this tale exemplifies the use of the Gothic (109). Certainly, the story contains undeniable Gothic aspects. Brown, though, fails to see certain evidence in any way other than the narrow Gothic scope. For Daryl E. Jones in “Poe’s Siren: Character and Meaning in Ligeia,” Ligeia is literally the siren from Greek myth, a …

You Grow This Way: An Analysis Of Mother And Daughter Selves In Anne Sexton’S Poem “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman, Kennerley Roper

Student Works

The maternal speaker in Anne Sexton's poem “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman” speaks to her maturing daughter about the wonders of the female body by revising the literary tradition that already exists about the female body. What the speaker ultimately conveys to her daughter is the power the body has through the use of parallel body and earth imagery. However, the daughter is distanced from this notion through a contrasting image: the string bean. The speaker uses that distance to show the mixed images of entanglement and separation of mother and daughter in order to expound wisdom to …

The Happy Warrior: Wordsworthian Reception And The Georgian Tradition Of Siegfried Sassoon’S War Memoirs And Poems, Shane Peterson

Student Works

The following thesis analyzes how the poetry and aesthetic values of William Wordsworth inspired the Georgian poets who served in World War I and influenced the writings of Siegfried Sassoon.

The first section focuses on how Wordsworth became an essential part of the national literary character as a result of the war and how many Edwardian writers used his more nationalistic poems to defend England’s imperial interests and the war effort against Germany. The following section compares the Edwardians to the Georgians, who were essentially neo-romantics that adopted Wordsworth’s poetic style, particularly the Romantic lyric and the pastoral mode. Georgians …

Is Literature Above Politics? James Joyce As An Author Of “Political Enthusiasm”, Lesli A. Mortensen

Student Works

James Joyce's stories "The Dead" and "Eveline" can be considered as "literatures of enthusiasm," a term previously used only to classify political literature in the American Revolution. By showing that Joyce joins in the tradition of writing "literatures of enthusiasm," or works that inspire revolution against colonial power and influence, readers can see how this strategy served to promote a postcolonial literary tradition in Ireland. Joyce sought to inspire the creation of a national identity in the wake of generations of British imperialism, as American authors did during the Revolutionary War. Joyce works towards this goal of inspiring social change …

The Power Of Speech: Speech-Recognition Software In The Writing Process, Lauren Fine

Student Works

Individual writing conferences—whether in writing centers or as extensions of composition classroom instruction—presume that talk about writing improves students’ writing. Composition scholars have discussed the benefits of prewriting or revising using speech. For instance, Leander and Prior (2004) have show how such conversations between students and teachers make their way into students’ writing. Woerkum (2007) has likewise demonstrated how considering readers’ oral responses can help technical writers integrate natural speech rhythms into their revisions. Elbow (2012) suggests these natural speech rhythms can mitigate several difficulties of writing, from prewriting to revision.

Researching The Restoration Of The Melchizedek Priesthood, Nathan Richardson, Dr. Michael Hubbard Mackay

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many historians, both Mormon and non-Mormon, have developed ideas about the restoration of the priesthood, and there is a rich literature that describes the details of those events. However, the Joseph Smith Papers Project, for which my mentor, Dr. MacKay is an author, has uncovered new information and produced new analysis from their detailed work that will help reinterpret and specify some of the important events of the restoration. This analysis is valuable to both the Church as a whole and to my individual knowledge and testimony of the Church. The ORCA research project in which I have participated has …

Singing The Bible: The Impact Of Haik-Vantoura’S Theory, Hannah Lambert, Shon Hopkin

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The use of liturgical music is common to several faiths in today’s society. The purpose of this project was to shed light on the origins and development of cantillation marks in the Hebrew bible and on the development of liturgical music in post-biblical time. Most importantly, this project’s chief purpose was to analyze and demonstrate the impact of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura’s proposal regarding cantillation on Jewish and Christian liturgical and worship music.

Reevaluating The Bronze And Iron Age Ceramic Evidence Of Biblical Hebron, Christina Nelson, Jeffrey Chadwick

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As the home to several Old Testament prophets such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and King David, Hebron holds a significant role in the biblical narrative and history of the Israelites. Today, the modern city of Hebron is located in the hill country of Judah, most known for the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Cave of Machpelah. Fifty years ago the site of Tell er-Rumeide/Hebron was excavated by Philip C. Hammond as the American Expedition to Hebron (AEH). He excavated between the years of 1964-1966 until the war of 1967 necessitated his withdrawal. Dr. Hammond willed to Jeffrey R. …

Application Of Piaget’S Cognitive Development Theory To Art Education In A Multicultural Setting, Kaled Ostraff, Dan Barney

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project’s aim was to apply Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory to art education. His theory describes the process children use to create views or schemas of the external world. He was “intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers” (McLeod, 2012). I was interested in analyzing drawings of children from two different cultural sites. To investigate what impact culture and the experiences of children have on the development of those children’s schemas as expressed through their drawings. I went to two sites: Summit Academy in Utah and Sylvia Park School in New Zealand.

Karen Tuttle: Coordinated Violist Extraordinaire, Karen Tuttle, Dr. Claudine Bigelow

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For my project, I did extensive research on viola pedagogue, Karen Tuttle. Even after her passing, Ms. Tuttle remains an important influence in the fields of viola pedagogy and modern viola playing. She taught some of todays most influential viola professors, and through their teaching, Ms. Tuttle’s legacy continues to live on.

“Shepherd” A Documentary Film, Jared Jakins, Thomas Lefler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The production of this documentary has been extensive, and in the process the project was renamed “Ghosts on the Mountain.” The film examines the isolated lifestyle of H-­‐2A guest workers in the American West by subtly exploring the emotions that come with their occupation. The film’s subjects leave family and native lands to work in the US on H-­‐2A work visas, or no visas at all. Surrounded by breathtaking vistas, these workers find themselves in solitude and loneliness. This isolation is heightened by language barriers and the remoteness of the sheep’s pasture lands. They become, in a sense, “ghosts” to …

Ang Simpleng Buhay: The Simple Life, Alyssa Stromberg, Robert T. Barrett

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project/art show is to illustrate the simple, humble lifestyle that is found in the Philippines in a way that affects viewers’ outlook on life and their core values.