English Language and Literature Commons^™

Ua35/11 Student Honors Research Bulletin, Vol. Ii, Wku Honors Program

WKU Administration Documents

Articles written by honors program students. They were originally research projects, class papers or essays written for academic credit, but in each case the student has done further work editing and improving his or her manuscript for this publication. The articles represent a broad range of interests and disciplines, and they indicate a healthy attempt on the part of at least some students to dig for deeper knowledge and understanding than is usually associated with undergraduate study.

• Greene, Bruce. The Traditional Fiddle Music of South-Central Kentucky
• Moody, Marlin. Some Effects of the Herbicide Glyphosate on Johnson Grass Rhizomes
• Jones, Larry. …

Metodes Meahta In Six Old English Poems, Mary Relihan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis, then, will attempt to show that the achievement of unity was the primary concern of the Old English poets, who aimed to use the power of poetry to teach their people how their hope for immortality might be realized under Christianity. Their concern is evident from their poetic diction and themes that have an origin in common values of mankind, from their demonstration of unity within the poems by deliberately chosen connotative language and by forms which represent a progression of thought, and from their objective presentations in dramatic and imaginative settings. Therefore, the poetry is a fusion …

Work And The Family: Themes In The Plays Of Arthur Miller, Sue Parsons

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The study is divided into four parts, the first three having to do with the family and the last with work. The first section outlines the relationships of family members, including their attitudes toward themselves, toward each other, and toward society. The next two have to do with “Responsibility” as viewed by the family, and the need for “Stability” within the home and outside it. The final section examines the jobs held by Miller’s characters, their attitudes toward those jobs, and the extent to which an occupation helps to influence the characters and their familial relationships. A close discussion of …

William Cowper’S The Task: A Study In Transition, Roy Leo Crady Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Hidden deep in the shelves of most libraries in England and America is an obscure, dusty volume of poetry containing one of the minor classics in the English language, a poem entitled The Task. Written by the eighteenth-century poet William Cowper, this very long and loosely structured poem won widespread recognition and acclaim in its day, only to gradually fade into a premature oblivion. Today The Task is known primarily to a handful of literary scholars whose arcane and esoteric business it is to go beyond the turnpikes of literary history into the labyrinthine lanes and paths of our literary …

The Low-Status Character In Shakespeare's Comedies, Linda St. Clair

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study will attempt to reveal in detail the techniques, purposes, and results of Shakespeare's use of the low-status character in the comedies. It will be shown that Shakespeare's use of low-status characters was not static. For example, the early low-status characters are more farcical than those of later plays. The characters of the middle plays are more satiric and those of the last plays are sometimes almost allegorical abstractions. Some low-status characters such as his comic law officials are used to develop satiric themes which run throughout his career. At other times, he uses the low-status character to develop …

Thomas Hardy's Male Characters: Vehicles For His Thought, Peggy Belasco

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ihomas Hardy believed that each man should make his own philosophy, and he formulated his own system of thought under the influence of the Bible, the classics, certain of the philosophers, and the Wessex environment. The elements of his thought include religious and philosophical convictions, man's relationship to nature, social institutions, and Victorian limitations. The male characters of his novels set forth his thought just as his female characters reveal his emotions. They show the transition from his early traditional beliefs to his conclusion that the Immanent Will is the governing; force in the universe and that man's ultimate hope …

The Sensuous Order, Faith And Love In The Poetry Of Wallace Stevens, Sheila Conway

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to show Wallace Stevens' intense valuation of the sensuous order of the universe through discussions of his various works and their criticism. Also, the love themes and spiritual convictions which result from the poet's emphasis upon the things of this world will be explored. The love theme especially has not received the attention it deserves from critics, and when properly recognized, it adds important dimension to the pattern of Stevens' themes. Chapter I of the thesis will be devoted to a discussion of Stevens' preoccupation with the physical world. Chapter II will treat Stevens' …

Doubt And Faith In Tennyson's Poetry, Martha Wright

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Alfred Tennyson, the nineteenth century poetic giant of Victorian England, who served as poet laureate for forty-two years, is best known for his elegy, In Memoriam, The Idylls of the King, and such short poems as "Ulysses," "The Lotos Eaters," "Flower in the Crannied Wall," and "Crossing the Bar." But few readers of his poetry are aware of the frequent use of the words "doubt" and "faith" in these poems, as well as in a number of his other poems. A realization of the extensive use of these words presented the challenge for a study to determine how frequently these …

Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein: Its Art And Thought, Marthalee Atkinson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A review of the genesis of Frankenstein, it’s narrative form, Gothicism, ideas and contributions to literature.

Symbolism In The Poetry Of William Butler Yeats, Alana White

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is a study of the development of the symbolic system formulated by William Butler Yeats and his subsequent application of this system to his poetry, with special attention to the rose and the stone. To comprehend and thereby fully appreciate Yeats's poetry requires some knowledge of the forces working together to form the basis of his philosophy and symbolic system. These forces and the system form the subject of the first chapter. Foremost among the many influences are his Irish birth, his associates (among them his father, John Yeats; his uncle, George Pollexfen; John O'Leary; and Madame Helena …

Ua68/6/1 Zephyrus, Western Kentucky University

Student Creative Writing

The fine arts magazine of Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green.

A Great Debate In Poetic Theory: Brooks, Wheelwright, Crane & Olson, Janice Carrell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Elder Olson has said that at the Biblical Tower of Babel the people did not begin to talk nonsense but only what seemed like nonsense. This paper concerns an intellectual tower where important debates are held, but unfortunately the language is not a universal one; therefor, because all too often terms have evolved without adequate definition, disagreement occurs where reconciliation appears impossible.

The very title of this thesis could be misleading to the reader if he considers debate in its formal sense. What is here intended is the controversy in the efforts of respected scholars to understand and establish the …

Ua68/6/1 Zephyrus, Western Kentucky University

Student Creative Writing

The fine arts magazine of Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green.

The Existential Elements In The Poetry Of Wallace Stevens, Patsy Satterly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study will deal with such existential elements in Stevens' poetry. The poetry will be treated in three main divisions: the early period of Harmonium (1923); the middle period of The Man With the Blue Guitar (1936), Ideas of Order (1937), and Parts of a World (1942); and the late period of Transport to Summer (1947) and Auroras of Autumn (1950). Two introductory chapters will precede the actual study of the poetry; one is a chapter on existentialism as it is expounded by Sartre and Camus, and the other is a description of the existential bias in Stevens' mind, in …

Ua12/2/1 L'Esprit, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

L'esprit edition of the College Heights Herald featuring student/faculty poetry and photography.

• Smith, Don. Let Me Be High Forever
• Banks, Nancy. Song of Myotic Prophets
• Smith, Don. Melting Wax
• Miller, Jim. Census Reports 45% Drop in State Farm Population
• Lawrence, Fred. The Barnyard Scene
• Dizney, Scott. Lo, A Man
• Fuller, Thomas. The Beautiful People
• Baskerville, Penni. Brothers Kill
• May, Janice. Untitled
• Miller, Jim. Family Reunion
• May, Janice. Children in Parks
• Baskerville, Penni People, Look Down
• May, Janice. Fall Warriors
• Baskerville, Penni. Today
• Calloway, Nanci. Feet-Trods
• Silence
• Smith, Don. Ah, Man
• Martin, William. Home
• Weaver, Pat. Revolution of the Sun
• Smith, …

William Faulkner As Sociologist: An Adventure In The Sociology Of Literature, Katherine Stuart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

My basic problem will be not to prove that Faulkner is, was, a sociologist or to suggest that his works be required reading in courses in sociological theory, but rather, to show in what sense and what areas his and the role of sociologist overlap. A. thorough reading of the major Faulkner novels, a sorting-out and. probing of his passages relevant to the field of sociology seems the most productive way to begin tackling the problem. First the effort will be made to grasp his ideas in context, then to extricate and analyze them out of context. The relationship of …

The Implications Of The Holy Trinity & Its Antithesis In Billy Budd, Nancy Locke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There have been a number of books and articles written about the theological underpinnings of the novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville and about the symbolic characters which he created. Several critics have brought some of this material together, but no one has really attempted to correlate the basic studies. This thesis will not only endeavor to do this, but it will add, as well, a personal interpretation of the theological content of the work.

A Critical Study Of The Dramas Of Four Major Romantic Poets, Earl Murphy Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Since little critical attention has been given to the dramas of this period, it would seem that further examination of them would be of value. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate the dramas of the major Romantic poets in order to provide a new critical perspective on their plays specifically and Romantic drama generally. From this it is hoped useful conclusions can be drawn. The study will be limited to the plays of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, and George Gordon, Lord Byron. John Keats has been omitted from this group because his only …

Domestic Imagery In Tennyson's In Memoriam, Ruth Clark

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The vehicle Tennyson uses to explore the thematic ambiguities of love/indifference; faith/doubt; hope/despair; and life/death is domestic imagery, specifically images which involve the home or house and those images of personal relationships which move the poet from despair to a tentative faith.

The initial chapter of this work will present a general view of Tennyson and In Memoriam by which the subsequent study of the elegy's domestic imagery may be brought into focus. In addition to a discussion of the occasion of the poem, pertinent critical material will be evaluated in terms of value to this discussion of imagery. After …

Mother Of Mankind: Milton's Treatment Of Eve In Paradise Lost, Mary Swanks

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although many critics have dealt with their general impressions of the character of Eve or have traced specific passages concerning her to the Bible or to rabbinical tradition, no one critic has made a detailed study of the way in which Milton portrays Eve from prelapsarian innocence through the fall to her ultimate reconciliation with Adam and with God. This study is concerned with Milton's complete portrait of Eve and with the way in which he uses the themes of women's inferiority, of the hierarchy of nature, and of the virtue of reason over passion to explain the fall of …

Critical Issues In The Religious Content Of The Poetry Of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Problems & Resolutions, Jo Anne Gabbard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate a limited number of the most influential and interesting studies dealing in depth with the question of Hopkins' religion and its resultant influence on his poetic talent, and to attempt to resolve some of the points of dispute. some of the studies investigated argue that Hopkins was hindered in his poetic endeavors by his religion, while others attempt to prove that his religion enhanced his poetry. The present study is not intended as an evaluation of individual works; its purpose is rather to present the pertinent and relevant ideas projected in each …

Imagery In Meredith's Modern Love, Beverly Belden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

George Meredith's Modern Love deals with a formula for achieving happiness in life by a man whose marriage has failed. His marital breakup serves as a catalyst for the husband's internal journey which, through intense self questionings, leads him to a fuller understanding of himself and his purpose within the harmony of nature. Definite overt action and external events are secondary in the sonnet sequence. Indeed, the major portion of the work is conveyed by images which reveal the husband's developing psychological states. As Lionel Stevenson says of Modern Love in the standard biography of Meredith,

. . . the …

A Graphemic Analysis Of An Old English Text: The Parker Manuscript, The Laws Of Alfred & Ine, Mary Reiss

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study may be considered an exercise in graphemic analysis. It proceeds from the point of view that writing is an independent manifestation of language. As such, the writing system of a language may be subject to a descriptive analysis based upon methods similar to those used in the analysis of spoken language systems. The purpose of such a description is to determine the distinctive and non -distinctive elements of the system.

Chapter V of this study is a graphemic analysis of one section of the Parker Manuscript. This analysis is based upon the principles discussed in Chapter II …

Some Paradoxical Elements In The Fiction Of Carson Mccullers, Rona Bozarth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Since the death of Carson McCullers in 1967, there has been no revival of interest in her work, and there has been little critical study done in regard to it. All of McCullers' stories have Southern settings, and most are set in her native Georgia. She uses folk materials (as do Faulkner, Welty and Warren), but the limitations which these impose are transcended, and the fiction becomes an "examination of universal moral circumstances."¹ McCullers does not exploit local color, which, as Robert Penn Warren has noted, is often "incomplete and unphilosophical."² Rather than treating locale for its own …

Ua68/6/1 Zephyrus, Western Kentucky University

Student Creative Writing

The fine arts magazine of Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green.

Richard Lovelace A Study In Poetic Design, James Flynn

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, and hopefully, to elevate the literary "currency" of Richard Lovelace. To this end, various methods and approaches will be utilized in order to capture a comprehensive, yet coherent view of Lovelace and his poetry. Specifically, these methods and approaches will include: a survey of Lovelace's biography, including clarification of discrepancies among authorities concerning pertinent details of his life; a location of Lovelace in the primary social, philosophical, and poetical movements of the early seventeenth century; an identification of Lovelace as a Cavalier poet, differentiating him from other Cavaliers; an analysis of representative …

Medical Matters In Shakespeare's Plays, Linda Longstreth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An effort is made in this study to consider the important factors in the field of medicine that are repeatedly referred to in Shakespeare's plays: practitioners, diseases and infirmities, drugs and herbs, physiological processes of the body, and mental disturbances and psychological therapy. The purpose is to examine these extensive references to medical matters in the dramatist's comedies, tragedies, and histories and to show his profound knowledge in the field. Special emphasis is placed on the accuracy of his portrayals in depicting the true practice of medicine in the Elizabethan Age and his far-reaching vision in anticipating medical theories of …

The Poetry Of Thomas Merton, Nancy Nelson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There is a need, then, for a study of Merton's poetry as a whole--a study based not on the poetry as a result of his poetic theory but on the poetry primarily as poetry, and which would include his last three volumes. This paper, therefore, will be a survey of representative samplings from each volume of Merton's poetry, and will take into account the differences and similarities between his early and later periods. It will attempt to discover and illustrate the most significant aspects of the development of Merton's philosophy and poetics, as revealed by the poetry itself and by …

To Hell For A Heavenly Cause: The Re-Emergence Of The Harrowing Of Hell Motif In Twentieth Century Literature, Margaret Shepherd

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To define the scope of this study, therefore, Harrowing of Hell imagery will be thought of as those symbols peculiar to the pseudo-biblical story, with redemptive activity and triumph as distinguishing criteria. The hero is a Christ figure who has already achieved a degree of self-mastery. His descent into hell represents an act of redemption for others, with victory as the outcome. This delimitation, it will be seen, is not impossibly restrictive. A survey of contemporary literature indicates that Wasserman's use of the descent motif with redemptive implications is far from an isolated instance. Edward Albee in The Zoo Story …

Themes Of Decay In The Novels Of John Updike, Renae Eaden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although Updike has been recognized as one of the few contemporary writers worthy of serious consideration, critics and reviewers are not in accord about the acclaim that he has received. They cannot agree that Updike has anything worthwhile to say about the fundamental questions basic to contemporary fiction. Updike has been accused of dealing in sentimentalities and trivialities, while touching only slightly problems important to the human condition. Most critics agree that his style is excellent, but some feel that Updike is using this particular skill to cover up the shallowness of his thought. However, throughout Updike's novels major themes …