Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

Chaucer's Ecclesiastics In The Canterbury Tales, Helen Lee Coleman

Master's Theses

It is thought that Chaucer began composing The Canterbury Tales as a dramatic whole around 1387. This is his last and by far his best known work. In this final masterpiece Chaucer undertakes the tremendous task of presenting in poetic form a whole society. However, he does not merely explore society in general; he also develops the theme or the individual's relation to the community and the integral part that each person plays in making up the whole. The Canterbury Tales is, as George Lyman Kittredge so aptly puts it, "a micro cosmography" or a little image of a great …

Jane Austen's Use Of The Epistolary Method, Barbara Tavss Bender

Master's Theses

There is . . . a prominent use of letters within the novels of Jane Austen. It has been shown that she wao influenced by Samuel Richardson and Fanny Burney and that she had a long experimental period of almost exclusive use of the epistolary method. It is from their influence and from her experimentation that the six major novels evolved; this supreme achievement was to give their creator a prominent place in the history of the English novel. No one factor can be cited as Miss Austen 's outstanding contribution, for each novel is a synthesis of many superior …

Chaucer's Pandarus : A Character Study, Phillip Valentine Daffron

Master's Theses

Chaucer 's Pandarus has been an intriguing character for me ever since my first exposure, as an undergraduate, to Troilus and ­Criseyde. Pandarus interests me because he is true to human nature in that he is not consistently one way all of the time. Like most human beings, Pandarus has many facets to his nature; therefore, I find it distressing that many critics and students of Chaucer will not acknowledge this complexity but rather tend to want to stereotype him. If Pandarus were a simple, transparent character, then his rank in English literature would be considerably less significant. It is …

The New British Drama 1956-1966 : A Critical Study Of Four Dramatists: John Osborne, Brendan Behan, Arnold Wesker, And John Arden, Jeanne Fenrick Bedell

Master's Theses

In the history of England, as well as in the history of the English stage, 1956 was a momentous year. It was the year of the Suez, the year that saw the destruction of the myth of the British empire. And it was the year of the Hungarian Revolution, which crushed liberal illusions about Soviet Russia. In 1956 the old idols were crumbling fast, and defense of tradition was fast becoming not only impossible but ludicrous. The bankruptcy of the older generation was apparent; it was time for the new to speak out.

Marlowe's Cosmology, William H. Caldwell

Master's Theses

A general study of Marlowe 's cosmology may by no means be original, for numerous critics have mentioned the subject in varying degrees; however, there is a wide disparity or opinion concerning the relative importance of the subject in relation to the playwright. This study is not exhaustive; it is significant, however, because it attempts to prove by means of biographical and historical backgrounds the idea that Mar­lowe had an intellect that was always "climbing after knowledge infin­ite."

In this study there are two obvious omissions: the plays Dido, Queen of Carthage, and The Massacre at Paris. …

Shelley's Prometheus Unbound : A Critical Analysis And Interpretation, Emily Carol Braxton

Master's Theses

As a basis for Prometheus Unbound, which he completed in 1819 and which is his masterpiece, Shelley used Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Shelley used the Prometheus myth to express his own ideas about present evils and his hopes for man's future as a result of his belief that man was capable of perfectibility.

Dryden's Adaptations Of Shakespeare, Massie C. Stinson Jr.

Master's Theses

It is the purpose of this study to discuss Dryden's adaptations of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida. As a background for this study, Restoration drama will be discussed from the standpoint of the following criteria: relationship to Elizabethan drama; Restoration audiences, theaters, and fashion; adaptations, primarily of Shakespeare; D’Avenant, Dryden, and heroic drama; and finally, English opera in the Restoration period. The first of the five chapters in this discussion will be concerned with the items listed above. Succeeding chapters in order will discuss Dryden's adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and …

An Evaluation Of The Autobiographical Interpretation Of Samson Agonistes, Edward P. Crockett

Master's Theses

Certainly, every reader of Samson Agonistes who is at all familiar with the circumstances of Milton's life, his thought, and the history of his times has been attracted by obvious parallels between 'the poet and certain aspects or his dramatic creation, and he may understandably assume that the presentation or the sufferings of Samson constitute intentional, hidden autobiography. To assume even the obvious, however, is something too blithely done. A little research into this area of Miltoniana will reveal to him that scholarly opinion concerning Samson Agonistes and autobiography is greatly varied and that some scholars are inclined not only …

The Problem Of Satan In Milton's Paradise Lost, Jeanne Saunders

Master's Theses

By 1641 John Milton had prepared a rather detailed outline for a tragic drama, Adam Unparadised. The design was to take form and grow, not as a religious drama, but as a magnificent epic poem which would "assert Eternal Providence,/And justify the ways of God to men" (I.25-26). In the original design for the drama the character and person of Satan did not constitute a basis for sustained interest. However, when Paradise Lost was finished in 1665, this was no longer the case; Satan, as an historical figure treated by the poetic and religious imagination of Milton, emerged as one …

Character And Theme In Romeo And Juliet And Troilus And Cressida : A Comparative Critical Study, Charlotte H. Oberg

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

William Butler Yeats' Contribution To The Celtic Renaissance In Ireland, Marian Marsh Sale

Master's Theses

The story of Ireland's Literary Revival is the story not only of the life and death of the Gaelic language in Ireland and the attempt to revive it as the national medium of speech, but also of the rise, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, of modern Anglo-Irish literature, which gave to Irish letters the right to be judged independently of English literature. The formation of this new medium of national literary expression was the result of the interaction of the work of certain translators and folklorists with that of those writers who sought to restore the Gaelic …

A Study Of Chaucer's Influence On English Literature Through Dryden, Elder Blair Apperson

Master's Theses

Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest poets of our English literature. If Shakespeare stands apart as our greatest, then it is John Milton who must dispute with Chaucer the honor of second place. Milton undoubtedly surpasses Chaucer in the grandeur of his imagination and the sublimity or his poetic style; but "he cannot equal him in the range and variety of his art." On one hand we have Chaucer, the grave and serious poet.always keenly conscious that "our human life is a shifting quicksand of mutability, that lasting happiness can never be our earthly portion;" whereas we have but …

A Comparison Of The Uses Of Astrology In The Works Of John Gower And Geoffrey Chaucer, George Rufus Wyatt Jr.

Master's Theses

The literary interest in astrology which had been gradually increasing during the fourteenth century in England, culminated in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. It is not surprising that these two poets have used astrology very extensively in writing stories for their medieval audiences since the average man in the Middles Ages believed that life depended upon the influences of the seven planets in their positions in the zodiac. It is the purpose of this thesis to present a comparison of the uses of the astrological material in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. In this …

Horatian Themes And Phrases In The Lyrics Of Father James Balde, S.J., James Aloysius Voss

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Macbeth According To Scholastic Aesthetics, William George Topmoeller

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Religious Element In The Poetry Of Matthew Arnold In Relation To The Victorian Era, Mary Maristella Wagner

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Position Of John Donne's Sermons In Early Seventeenth Century Prose, Raymond L. Zeitz

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Tracing Of The Melancholy In The Poetry Of John Keats, James J. Zigerell

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Robert Louis Stevenson's Theory Of Setting And Of His Use Of Setting In His Fiction, Margaret Mary O'Toole

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Description In Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Newman Hinks

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Moral Problem In The Novels Of George Meredith Its Intellectual Basis And Its Aesthetic Validity, M. Aloise Jones

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Objective-Subjective Elements In John Milton's Dramatic Poem Samson Agonistes, Louis S. Kaluzsa

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Francis Thompson And His Relationship To The 1890'S, Mary J. Kearney

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Influence Of The Book Of Common Prayer On Samuel Johnson's Spirituality As Manifested In His Prayers And Meditations, John J. Miday

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Grotesque Artist - Robert Browning, Oral Marguerite Hagerty

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Junior English Schools In The Development Of The Drama, Roger T. Jones

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Poetic Principles Of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Joseph Grady

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Metaphysical Concepts In The Work Of Thomas Hardy, Mary Leo Hogan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Fabian Society On English Social Literature From 1884-1914, Catherine Mahoney

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Basis Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Social Thought And Poetry In The Living Conditions Of Early Nineteenth Century England, Nora Cawley

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.