English Language and Literature Commons^™

A Comparative Study Of Existential Attitudes In John Dos Passos’ Three Soldiers And Norman Mailer’S The Naked And The Dead, Vernon Knuckles Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is devoted primarily to examining existential factors present in Three Soldiers and The Naked and the Dead, but it is evident that naturalism and Marxism make their presence known in both novels. Three Soldiers and The Naked and the Dead suggest through their existential overtones that indeed existentialism is a vital force which is clearly exerting itself in twentieth-century literature.

This study supports the viewpoint of a growing number of modern authors’ works which have concentrated on the individual’s struggle to find meaning and fulfillment in a complex world – a world of nuclear devices, campus unrest, …

Ua68 Development Of The Potter College Of Liberal Arts, Wku Potter College Of Arts & Letters

WKU Administration Documents

A history of the development of WKU Potter College of Arts & Letters from 1906 to 1969. Includes information regarding the departments of art, English, foreign languages, history, music, speech and theatre.

Joseph Conrad's Feminine Mystique, Mary Yates

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An examination of Conrad's life will provide one with insight into the revelation of his women characters. The following novels and short stories, investigated in this study, will reveal Conrad's portrayal of the woman, her characteristics and associated imagery, and her role in his works to unveil his all-encompassing philosophy of life: Almayer's Folly, The Arrow of Gold, Chance, Lord Jim, Nostromo, An Outcast of the Islands, The Rescue, The Rover, The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes, Victory, "Amy Foster," "The Brute," "The End of the Tether," "Freya of the Seven Isle," "The Heart of Darkness," "The Idiots," "The …

Folk Elements In The Fiction Of James Still, Edith Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study attempts to complement earlier studies of Still’s literary art such as that of Dean Cadle and Katherine Craf by pointing out the integral use of folk elements in his fiction. The methodology combined field studies with investigation of the works of folklorists and historians and novelists whose writings center around the same general region as do those of Still

For the purposes of this study “folk elements” will denote the orally transmitted traditions of the common people of a particular region. In this case, the “folk” are a rural people who have remained relatively stable for several generations …

Zephyrus, Western Kentucky University

Student Creative Writing

No abstract provided.

Courtly Love Elements In The Child Ballads: A Study In Origins, Fannie Lewis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The traditional ballad, the genre of the above poetry, has been a subject of much controversy and speculation, especially regarding its origin. The problem of origin is not likely to be solved unless much more evidence is found. Among the many theories are communal authorship, and individual poet; humble and oral origin, and sophisticated and literary origin. Studies of linguistics, of ballad refrain, and of carole continue the attempt to discover ballad genesis. However, a very different approach perhaps can be used to determine the origin of some ballads, particularly the romantic ballads; that approach is to use the courtly …

Samuel Daniel: His Importance As A Literary Figure, Ronald Gaffney

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An investigation of the literary conventions and an evaluation of the way they are employed by Daniel will help to provide some indication of his literary importance. To examine the traditional conventions he uses will, to some degree, indicate where Daniel fits into the literary society of the Elizabethan Age. A study of some of his innovations and a few of his distinctive ways of using traditional motifs will help to demonstrate his overall importance to literature.

Edgar Allan Poe's Criticism Of The Novel, James Gage

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Edgar Allan Poe wrote forty-three critical reviews of novels during the period 1_835 to 1848 that he was associated with the various literary journals in the East. And, although his best known critical works concern themselves with the tale and with poetry, his statements regarding the novel are of sufficient quantity to merit scholarly research. Yet investigation of the major bibliographic sources reveals this to be not at all the case. Thus, this thesis snail endeavor to place some substance in the void of scholarship concerning Poe's criticism lf the novel with the hope that this substance might provide ample …

Hawthorne's Theory Of Art: A Reflection Of His Theory, Linda Thomas

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In order to attempt an analysis of the success of the symbol and the method of achievement, it is necessary to understand the major intentions of Hawthorne's art and his concept of the symbol; the second chapter explains these theories and with this knowledge, the symbols selected were evaluated.

Goticism In Matthew G. Lewis's The Monk & Related Works, Larry Harrel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Lewis repeatedly revealed himself to be concerned with effect: in his statement that he desired to increase effect by heightening the color of The Monk and in his statements concerning his goal in The Castle Spectre there is the recurrent theme of desire to horrify. This desire has been shown to grow out of the aesthetic ideal of sublimity which was developed in years preceding The Monk. The implicit defect in this concept is that it may be used to justify sensational works which lack lasting merit, as was largely the case with The Castle Spectre, not …

The Fall Motif In The Novels Of William Golding, Timothy Miller Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

It is the intent of this thesis to describe and analyze the various aspects of the fall motif in five novels of William Golding: Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, Free Fall, and The Spire The fall motif shall be defined, in part, to mean an allusion to a lapse of mankind from innocence or goodness into a state of innate sinfulness through willingly succumbing to temptation-- symbolic of the Biblical fall from the Garden of Eden.

Some Aspects Of Nineteenth Century American Folk Life As Reflected In The Shaker Journals Of South Union, Kentucky, Jean Thomason

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study will describe many of these practices which have been recorded in the journals of the society at South Union and will identify origins, similarities and differences as they relate to the practices of the people of the surrounding geographic region.

Religious Meaning In T.S. Eliot's Plays, Paula Helm

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Critics of Eliot often deal with his religious themes, but not with sympathy. In general, it seems that they are not at ease with Eliot's religious views; so the tendency has been not to give them a careful, objective treatment. The purpose of my study of the plays is to attempt such an unbiased examination, to keep in view precisely what Eliot dues say and the religious meanings that are clearly implied. Whether Eliot's ideas as they stand may be compatible or incompatible with the current thought climate is not, after all, the most important thing. He is a serious …

Primary Concerns In The Poetry Of Robert Frost, La Verne Murphy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to classify the poems' themes and to reveal frequency patterns, thereby disclosing Frost's heaviest interests. The study is limited to an analysis of the poems contained in the Complete Poems, which includes most of his poetry. The Masque of Reason and The Masque of Mercy, appearing at the end of the Complete Poems, are not included in the study because they are allegorical poem-plays of the Job and Jonah stories respectively. While the study is confined primarily to an interpretation of the poems themselves, important critical studies relating to the themes are …

A Comparative Study Of Caroline & Restoration Drama, Jane Pfingston

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The original plan for research was to make a comparative study of plays written in the twenty year span before the theaters closed and in the twenty year period after the theaters reopened - a comparative study of Jacobean and Restoration drama. However, the availability of play copies limited the number of plays read and the authors used. Therefore the twenty year plan proved to be quite cumbersome and the plays were reduced roughly to a twelve year period. The subject for research then became "A Comparative Study of Caroline and Restoration Drama."

Moral And Spiritual Values In A High School Anthology Of Literature, Terrence Eugene Kelsay

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For some years now the need for the emphasis of moral and spiritual values in our public schools has been recognized by the Kentucky Department of Education. The department has given encouragement to numerous research projects and summer workshops held for the purpose of finding an answer to the problem of emphasizing moral and spiritual values in public education. The concern for this need has informally become known as the “Kentucky Movement.”

This study was not undertaken with the thought of introducing new programs in our high schools. The teaching of moral and spiritual values should be done through the …

The Mcguffey Readers, Louise Lively

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The textbook, an important factor in public school education, is nowhere so wonderfully developed as in the United States. It occupies a more important position in our educational system than it does in the systems of many foreign countries. In fact, most of the teaching in our schools today revolves around the textbook - the cause of much criticism by many writers. They deplore the fact that both our teachers and pupils are dependent on textbooks.

Kentucky Schools In Fiction, Mariema Rowlison

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There have been many reports made on education in Kentucky since it became a state, but these factual reports are one-dimensional. They present the known, concrete facts, but do not give the true picture any more than flat drawings of a landscape is a true representation of the beauty and feeling of the landscape itself. In this study of the reflection of the schools of Kentucky in the mirror of fiction I have tried to present the scene in perspective, to give it color and to add the fourth dimension of human character.

An Analysis Of Basal Preprimers In Terms Of Factors Determining Their Difficulty, Virginia Brunson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of the study is twofold:

I. To make a comparative analysis of recently published preprimerrs from the standpoint of:

A. Relation of the content of the picture to the content of the printed text.

B. Style of writing

C. Elements of interst

D. Vocabulary burden

II. To evaluate the difficulty and relative merit of the preprimers analyzed.

The Development Of The English Curriculum At Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Dorthie Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to trace the development of the English curriculum and its related activities at the Western Kentucky State Teachers College. This development is not the product of the years 1906-1943 exclusively, during which time Western Kentucky State Teachers College has been a chartered stated institution, because the school that became Western Kentucky Normal School in 1906 had been growing for some thirty years.

Vocabulary Study As A Means Of Increasing Speed And Comprehension In Reading, Florence Hunnicutt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There is a need for a clearer understanding of the methods by which vocabularies can be enlarged most effectively. Results of experiments indicate that pupils are unable to recognize their own deficiencies and needs in respect to the meanings of words; consequently they need some type of guidance in enlarging their meaning vocabularies. Teachers are agreed that word lists are a non-effective device. They are agreed, too, that not one or a few techniques are being used to teach the meanings of new words, but many techniques. The two most effective seem to be (1) relating the word to former …

Stephen Collins Foster & His Folk-Songs, Mary Chisholm

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Every American knows some of Stephen Collins Foster's songs, but not everyone who sings My Old Kentucky Home and Old Folks at Home realizes that it was he who wrote those songs. Of the two hundred songs and compositions which Foster published, at least fifteen are constantly sung. Since these songs voice emotions which are fundamental to mankind, they have become more important than the composer himself. For this reason they may be called folk-songs, and because they voice so truly the spirit of America, America is proud to claim them as her own.

The title of this thesis, Stephen …

The Choral Speaking Movement, Chloe Wade

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

none

Irvin S. Cobb & The Judge Priest Stories, Katherine Logsdon

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The following study deals with that phase of the life of Irvin S. Cobb that had direct bearing on his creation of Judge Priest; with the causes that influenced him to write the Judge Priest stories; with the life of William Sutton Bishop, who was the original of the fictitious character Judge Priest; and with the stories of Judge Priest and his people.

Twentieth Century Negro Poets, Sheila Higgins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

According to Matthew Arnold an open mind is one of the chief essentials for true literary criticism. One is impressed by the truthfulness of this statement when he seeks to evaluate Negro poetry.

The term, Negro poetry, has several interpretations. In its most general sense, the one in which it is used in this paper, it means poetry written by Negroes on any subject. In a more restricted sense it refers to poetry that contains allusions, rhythms, sentiments and idioms more or less peculiar to the Negro. In its narrowest meaning it refers to poetry of racial protest and self-exhortation. …

Young Ewing Allison, Mary Shutt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Probably no other period in American history has been more productive of romance, strife, bravery, aggressiveness, and conflicting ideas of thought than the period from 1850 to 1865.

One who was fortunate enough to be born in the early years of that period, would have been old enough by 1865 for those various experiences to have branded his future life. Young E. Allison was so fortunate. He was born in Henderson, Kentucky, on December 23, 1853 and was named after his father, who was county judge and county clerk.

A Contract Plan For Teaching American Literature In High School, Elizabeth Stagner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The plan may be characterized as follows:

1. A definite provision for four levels of mastery.
2. A challenge to the individual pupil, through a written presentation of contracts, to place himself satisfactorily at the grade-level he desires.
3. Provision for a period of thirty-six weeks, in six-weeks units.

Annie Fellows Johnston & The Little Colonel Books, Gladys Wilson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to study the original background and influences of the Little Colonel Series, their wide popularity, and the criticisms made by friends and critics. In my research work it soon became evident that Mrs. Johnston's own life and observations played too great a part in her books to be omitted; so two full chapters of her life have preceded the study of the series.

Elizabethan Left-Overs In Allen County, Alfred Dalton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study of the Elizabethan influences remaining in the spoken language of the people of Allen County, Kentucky, is an outgrowth of discussion in the English classes of Dr. Gordon Wilson, Western Kentucky State Teachers College, concerning the folklore of the present-day rural people of Kentucky. I have endeavored to give a true picture of the picturesque language of the farming people as they go about their every-day business of making a living, with particular emphasis upon those words and usages that are no longer considered in good use.

The History Of The Early Theatre In Kentucky, Mitchell Clarke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to make a study of the pioneer theatre in the early days of Kentucky with emphasis laid on theatrical life in Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville. The end of the first half of the nineteenth century marks the approximate close of the period studied. Theatrical activity first thrived in Lexington and Frankfort, but soon Louisville became the most important scene of dramatic performances and more attention is given the latter city in this study. Information concerning dramatic activity in smaller towns is scarce, and it is not likely that there were many performances given in …