Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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."