English Language and Literature Commons^™

Sherwood Anderson, Christopher Sergel, And Winesburg, Ohio, Frank Stoddert Johns

Master's Theses

In 1936, Sherwood Anderson read a stage version of Winesburg, Ohio to his friends Roger and Christopher Sergel. For Anderson the play marked the culmination of his efforts at playwriting. He had adapted his finest collection of stories for the stage, and it would now be the responsibility of the theatre and particularly of his producer, Jasper Deeter, to see that the play succeeded. Deeter produced the play at the Hedgerow Theatre in 1937. Anderson had no doubts concerning the merits of his play.

For Christopher Sergel, however, Sherwood Anderson's reading was only a beginning. Anderson's masterpiece, he felt, had …

Patterns Of The Negative Epic Quest And Three Modern Novels By Andre Gide, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, And Malcolm Lowry, John Robert Greer

Master's Theses

Many critics have approached the subject of modern epic, but like E. M. W. Tillyard, they dismiss "eccentric" literature from consideration on the claim that the execution of epic requires "balance" and "objectivity." It seems unfortunate to dismiss works that--while remaining essentially negativistic and subjective in their impact-uniquely capture the spirit of their milieu and refract in a singular way a "choric" effect (to borrow Tillyard's term); that is, "the unconscious metaphysic of a group." To accommodate the inverted comparison between epic and certain individuated works by modern authors, I here attempt to define a form I call the "negative …

An Interpretation Of Ecstasy As Found In The Poetry Of Emily Dickinson, Thomas B. Mccary

Master's Theses

Emily Dickinson was indeed used to grief, as the record of her life clearly indicates. She was disappointed in love and and disappointed in her efforts to achieve literary fame. Yet there was moments of happiness and even ecstasy in Emily Dickinson's life. The purpose of this thesis is to examine those moments of ecstatic elevation--the "Soul's Superior instants" as Emily called them--in order to achieve a better insight into the mind of the poet and the nature of often curious verse.

An examination of ecstasy requires a study of Emily's religious background her psychological make-up. It also behooves the …

Characters As Functions Of Landscape In Seven Poems By Lawrence Durrell, Richard King Leroy

Master's Theses

No single theory explaining the creative process has won the assent of writers and critics. Most scholars agree that the process has sub-conscious origins and that it concludes only when the last revisions reveal the entire finished composition. However, the act of creation is de- pendent upon numerous aesthetic factors, and artists have given credit to various stimuli which have produced their special inspiration.

"Mercy Seasons Justice", Robert Freeman Davidson

Master's Theses

This is a study of the development of the mind of William Shakespeare as it relates to justice which tries to show how certain of Shakespeare's beliefs and theories, those shared by most of his con­ temporaries, were altered in the course of that development. The plays chosen for this treatment of the mind of Shakespeare -- the historically related cycle of Richard II, Henry IV (I and II), Henry V, Henry VI (I, II, and III), and Richard III -- show the ideas in question in greater abundance than any other of Shakespeare's plays. The historical grouping consists …

An Orientation Of The Theoretical Aspects Of Verbs In English, Mostafa Hedayatnia

Master's Theses

Traditional grammar originated in Greece in the fifth century B.C. and has been closely connected with philosophy and literary criticism ever since. Through the course of centuries, numerous grammars have been presented, with new ideas and definitions each "varying greatly in purpose, quality, basic assumption, and method of analysis." Each system of grammar has been productive in its own way as well as erroneous and has been succeeded by other systems still faulty. Consequently, in spite of the tremendous amount of theoretical data processed by investigators and experts, neither an explicit nor a complete grammar of a language has ever …

Chaucer's Criseyde : The Pressures Of The Courtly Love Code, Betty Ann Jaffee

Master's Theses

When Chaucer wrote the poem Troilus and Criseyde, he created a heroine who stands out from other romantic med­ ieval heroines such as Guinevere and Ysolt. He created a heroine of such complexities that critics have debated her motives endlessly and have explored the psychology of her emotions with every literary tool at their command. He created a heroirie whose sin was so damning that it inspired Robert Henryson to provide for her what he considered a fit­ ting punishment; and it inspired Shakespeare to try to salvage the wreck left by Henryson to create his masterful play.

It is …

Determinism And Freedom Of Choice Operating Through Five Experiences In Psychological Development In The Lives Of Three Of George Eliot's Heroines, Elisabeth Even Sale

Master's Theses

George Eliot's world is a deterministic world. She believed that circumstances and conventions imposed by society control events in an individual life; nevertheless, in the inevitable conflicts between inner desire and outer reality, the individual is responsible for his own choices and the acts which they direct. Furthermore, only in a deterministic world are intelligent, moral choices possible. The explanation or this seeming paradox lies in education or the individual by experience to learn to make satisfying choices and to develop a strong will. Through experience, the individual learns both the hazards of the selfish choice and also the lasting …

To Revitalize The Flaccid Garden : A Study Of Milton's Paradise Regained, Daniel Clyde Bartges

Master's Theses

By 1654, Milton had partaken of misery, neglect, frustration, poverty; temptation, and disillusionment, as do all men; and it was his hope to "justify" (actually to "explain" since, to Milton, God's "ways" do not lend themselves to mortal justification) these plights to his fellow man. He shared the troublesome question of the Puritans: why is there evil in a world created by a beneficent God? A sincere Christian, he hoped to find a solution to this religious embarrassment through Biblical interpretation and subsequent enlightenment.

It is my belief that Paradise Regained constitutes Milton's most concentrated effort toward solving this baffling …

The Glasgow Paradox : A Study Of Ellen Glasgow's Sad Ladies, Frank Alexander Lovelock

Master's Theses

This study intends to examine the career of Ellen Glasgow to determine how her personal philosophy is re­ flected in her work--and more especially in the characters of her long-suffering heroines (the sad ladies). It is hoped that the reader will come to understand how Glasgow moved from an initial phase of hope, through a period of pain and sorrow, and into a final time of despair .

For the purpose of this study, special emphasis has been placed. on the importance of the novels which were written after 1900. It is these novels that have come to be considered …

Irony In The Book Of Job And Three Modern Adaptations : J.B., A Masque Of Reason, And "A Job Of The Plains", Becky Bartholomew Hawkins

Master's Theses

The basic format of my thesis will include six chapters beginning with a general discussion of irony, emphasizing the specific ironies noted throughout the thesis. The next four chapters will deal with the ironies in Job, J.B., A Masque of Reason, and "A Job of the Plains." Finally, there Will be a closing chapter which will include a summary and concluding remarks.

Chaucer's Knight's Tale : A Symbolic Reading, Naomi Pasquine

Master's Theses

Chaucer's Knight Tale has called forth much critical comment. Individual lines have been commented upon, characters have been analysed and the resolution of the poem has been discussed. Critics have offered suggestions as to the poem's meaning, but an interpretation that encompasses all aspects of the poem and gives the reader the feeling that all the poetic elements of the poem have been resolved into that interpretation has not been presented. What the reader is looking for is an interpretation that will give the poem what we call today a sense of its own being or an existence of its …

The Mannerist Painter And Donne : A Correlation Of The Arts, Christine Steinbach

Honors Theses

There is a certain equality of painting and poetry expressed by Horace in his descriptive phrase ut pictura poesis. The implication is that the arts are practically interchangeable, one may describe the other, and the genius of each arises from the same source. Some of the best evidences of similar inspiration and perception within these two arts can be illustrated through a comparison of Italian Mannerist painting and Metaphysical poetry as embodied in various works of John Donne. Although these works are separated by chronological time and geographical location, they are, nevertheless, the product of mutual attitudes and stress common …

Myths And Legends In The Stories Of Eudora Welty, Robert Keith Brower

Master's Theses

Wright Morris suggests that in The Territory Ahead that the American writer's imagination has been crippled by the nostalgia that drives it to a preoccupation with the mythic past. Like any other generalization, there are several glaring exceptions to this statement, and one of the most obvious of these exceptions ca be found in the case of Eudora Welty. Miss Welty has continually exhibited a great knowledge of mythology and American folklore, and has utilized this knowledge extensively in her stories. However, it is safe to say that rather than being crippled, Miss Welty's imagination has been greatly enhanced and …

The Symbolist And Decadent Elements In The Lyrical Dramas Of Oscar Wilde, Nancy G. Nuckols

Master's Theses

The terms decadence, aestheticism, art for art's sake have been used interchangeably to describe the movement in literature that flowered during the 1890's in England. Despite the fact that the English aesthetics and decadents were a relatively small group, they were vocal and colorful. Many contributed to the numerous aesthetic and semi-aesthetic periodicals with such titles as The Chamelion, The Butter, The Rose Leaf, and The Hobby Horse. In this way the decadents presented the new trends in art and literature to the general public. In London during the 1890's the literacy taverns were full of these decadent artists who …

Mrs. Gaskell's Industrial Novels: Mary Barton And North And South, Yvette D. Marambaud

Master's Theses

Since 1910, when Mrs. Gaskell's centenary was celebrated, few articles have been written about her. Except for her Life of Charlotte Bronte, she is not really well known in America. Few people read her tales or her short stories, and her novels are quite neglected. Yet her industrial novels, Mary Barton (1848) and North and South (1855), were very successful when they were first published. Mary Barton was an immediate success - perhaps in part because of the controversies it aroused.

Existentialism As Reflected In The Imagery Of William Styron's Work, Sally Yates Wood

Master's Theses

In Lie Down in Darkness, The Long March and Set This House on Fire. William Styron studies the modern condition of man and his world. Styron describes this situation according to an existential definition of existence. The world of his novels is depicted as a lonely and bleak realm where man finds no external means of support. As a result of these conditions, man flounders aimlessly. The reason for this erratic behavior is that man relies too heavily on finding guidance from the outside world. Styron contends that man will continue to stumble so miserably, until he realizes that he …

Melville's America : Democratic Brotherhood, Nancy Yeager Bailey

Master's Theses

Herman Melville had a deep faith in his fellow man. He felt that man's devotion to other men, a feeling of brotherhood between men, was the essential bond of humanity. Men had to acknowledge their responsibility to their own kind in order to achieve order and happiness in the rapidly changing, ambiguous world of the mid-nineteenth century. He rejected transcendental philosophy because each man had to achieve his own convictions and peace of mind through personal contact with nature, which led to the isolation of the individual. Melville believed that men could not live together in a society by cultivating …

The Contributions And Effects Of The Drama On Paradise Lost, Robert Elliott Bayliss

Master's Theses

Upon reading John Milton's Paradise Lost, one cannot help but notice that its tone, its moving scenes and confrontations, and its moments of psychological and cathartic impact all help to shape what one might call the poem's total effect -- the impressions it leaves with the reader. Upon close examination it becomes obvious that Milton was consummately adept in his adaptation of the dramatic element in his great epic. What is generally unrecognized, yet surprisingly evident, is that the dramatic element plays a unique and singularly important role in building the poem's grandeur. This dramatic element, more than any of …

Reason, Time, And Redemption In Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Diane S. Bonds

Master's Theses

When Joseph Heller 's Catch-22 appeared in 1961, it met with extreme reactions from reviewers. Those who attacked the novel did so with fervor. An anonymous reviewer in Daedalus summed up many unfavorable criticisms of the book by charging that Catch-22 wa s not "written"; that it had no story or real characters; that it was repetitive and formless; finally, that it was an example of the most "destructive and immoral" kind of literature--a novel which spat "in-discrimimitely at business and the professions, at respectability, at ideals, at all visible tokens of superiority." Favorable reviews focused mainly on the brilliance …

The Protagonists Of John Updike, Charles Monroe Cock

Master's Theses

My purpose in this paper is to show that the protagonists of Updike can be categorized into groups and that these protagonists are as real for me as they are for Updike. It is because of these protagonists that the works of Updike will live for many years to come.

Shaw's Comic Tone : From Laughter To The Broken Harp String, R. K. Thomas

Honors Theses

George Bernard Shaw's literary career lasted over seventy years. He wrote prolifically. The most complete collection of his work, the Ayot St. Lawrence Edition, runs to over thirty-one volume, yet it is not all inclusive. His efforts were always motivated by the desire to expand and expound his social and political philosophy. Although the canon of Shavian criticism approaches his motives from a wide of variety of angles and avenues, Shaw singled out "passion of pure political Weltverbesserungwahn (worldbettermentcrase)" as his "own devouring malady." Defining his artistic objectives as conveying a "feeling" to an audience and making "them sympathetic with …

"What Else Is There?" : Surrealism And The Love Of Life In Catch-22 /, Dobbs Eric

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Images Of Creation And Destruction In The Early Poetry Of Dylan Thomas, Willard Liston Rudd

Master's Theses

The intent of this thesis is to examine the two major categories into which Dylan Thomas' images seem to fall: images associated with creation and images associated with destruction.

Symbol And Mood In Tennyson's Nature Poetry, Margery Moore Taylor

Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to show Tennyson's preoccupation with nature in his poetry, his use of her as a projector of moods and symbolism, the interrelation of landscape with depth of feeling and narrative or even simple picturesqueness. Widely celebrated as the supreme English poet and often called the Victorian Oracle, Tennyson may well be considered the best exemplar of the nineteenth century. T.S. Eliot acclaimed his poetic greatness because of his "abundance, variety, and complete competence." In addition to these positive attributes he displayed elements typical of the Victorian Age, dignity, seriousness, industrious application. More importantly, Tennyson …

The Comic Vision Of Samuel Beckett, James Ambrose Walsh

Master's Theses

The twin poles of eating and excreting which he mentions point up Beckett's preoccupation with the physical over the spiritual, an interest which stands as a clue to tho understanding of his comic vision, the one element which remains constant and at the heart of his writing throughout bis career. At the center of this interest is a theory of comedy best investigated through his relationship to Henri Bergson, the French philosopher and author of Laughter, a theory of the comic. Though there is no concrete evidence of any direct influence on Beckett from Bergson, the incredible similarities in their …

Sherwood Anderson : An Experiment In Journalism, Carol Senell Ware

Master's Theses

James Schevill in his Sherwood Anderson His Life and Work describes Anderson's plunge into journalism as "an episode unique in American newspaper history, the first time a mature writer of important stature had been completely responsible for the contents of two country papers." Although it ha s bee n generally acknowledged that Anderson's journalistic experiments are unique and make a significant contribution to the history of American journalism, these areas have never been analyzed in any detail by students of his work. This thesis will explore in depth the nature of Anderson's journalistic experiments and evaluate his achievement in the …

Sentimentalism In Dreiser's Heroines, Carrie And Jennie, Daryl Cumber Dance

English Faculty Publications

Theodore Dreiser is usually hailed as a pioneer of American realism who freed American literature from Victorian restraints, from nineteenth century idealism and optimism, and from the ever-present moralizing of domestic sentimentalism. It is interesting to note, however, that this shockingly modern trailblazer not only stands at the dawn of a new era in literature, but also at the twilight of the old, for in Dreiser is a mixture of both the new realism and naturalism and the old sentimentalism that had dominated American literature from its inception.

Case Relations Of The Two Part Verb In English, Lester Gould Woody

Master's Theses

This paper attempts to explore one relatively small phenomenon of language. Linguistics is what might be thought of as a discipline in its infancy. Men have studied language for thousands of years: Dionysius Thrax of Alexandria codified the grammar of Greek in the second century B.C. But it has been only in the last thirty to forty years that scholars have studied language as it is spoken, as the living tool for symbolization that more than anything else distinguishes man from the lower animals. Linguists try to describe and to explain language, not to prescribe how it should be used. …

The Barren Soul : A Study Of Ellen Glasgow's Religious Revolt, Reva May Jenkins

Master's Theses

He stared in amazement. "You're writing on Ellen Glasgow, on her religious beliefs! Did she have any?"

The time, the speaker, and the words changed but never the question. This paper is my answer. It is the study of five rather different aspects of a religious philosophy. All of Miss Glasgow' s writings were examined. However, since all the fictional writings could not be properly studied in a paper of this size, examples were taken mainly from seven novels selected as representative. These include the following: the first two published novels, The Descendant and Phases of an Inferior Planet; …