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Title: "The Battle of Maldon": Evidence of the move away from epic heroism.
Creator: Baird, Diane Stetson, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The Battle of Maldon is a poem of change, a pivot point in the English literary tradition. It lies between Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both in time and in intent. The Maldon poet created finely interrelated philosophic and social commentary in his poem, playing the epic hero against the newer Christian martyr. He used both characterizations to create a picture of Byrhtnoth as a political martyr. With some understanding of the historical and religious perspectives of tenth...
Show moreThe Battle of Maldon is a poem of change, a pivot point in the English literary tradition. It lies between Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both in time and in intent. The Maldon poet created finely interrelated philosophic and social commentary in his poem, playing the epic hero against the newer Christian martyr. He used both characterizations to create a picture of Byrhtnoth as a political martyr. With some understanding of the historical and religious perspectives of tenth century England, it is possible to begin to appreciate The Battle of Maldon and to understand its pivotal role in artistic evolution. The poet integrated disparate ideas to produce an Anglo-Saxon work of surprising complexity that has survived for one thousand years.
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Date Issued: 1991
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14779
Subject Headings: Literature, Medieval, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Aesthetic immersion and imaginative constructs in the novels of Henry James.
Creator: Alvarez, Alberto Gabriel, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: A recurrent condition plaguing many of James's characters can be diagnosed as an aesthetic dependency. These characters turn their back on "the real thing" and exist in a precarious world of beauty and misplaced ideals. The novels examined present various methods James's characters utilize to elude the actual world. In The Tragic Muse, the line that separates mimetic art and actuality is nonexistent. Through imitation and performance characters create and represent what ought to be. Aesthetic...
Show moreA recurrent condition plaguing many of James's characters can be diagnosed as an aesthetic dependency. These characters turn their back on "the real thing" and exist in a precarious world of beauty and misplaced ideals. The novels examined present various methods James's characters utilize to elude the actual world. In The Tragic Muse, the line that separates mimetic art and actuality is nonexistent. Through imitation and performance characters create and represent what ought to be. Aesthetic immersion and imaginative constructs are opposed methods of escape in The Spoils of Poynton. The Ambassadors depicts a world where characters conspire to disguise the truth. Lambert Strether's imagination is stimulated by this milieu and takes flight. Similarly, the characters in The Wings of the Dove go to extreme lengths to realize their aesthetic visions. Ultimately, each character in these novels must deal with the sacrifices that are made when one chooses to exist in a world consisting solely of beauty and imagination.
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Date Issued: 1996
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15331
Subject Headings: Literature, Modern, Literature, American, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Ash Nazg: A biography.
Creator: Bernabei, Jason Phillip, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: At the center of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings lies an epic power struggle between good and evil, the latter embodied by the "One Ring," "Ash Nazg" in the speech of Mordor. Although Tolkien scholarship has heretofore treated the Ring as a non-sentient object, "Ash Nazg" has a surprisingly dramatic life story as well as a dynamic relationship with other characters in the epic. His character development is here chronicled from conception to death, and his relationships thoroughly...
Show moreAt the center of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings lies an epic power struggle between good and evil, the latter embodied by the "One Ring," "Ash Nazg" in the speech of Mordor. Although Tolkien scholarship has heretofore treated the Ring as a non-sentient object, "Ash Nazg" has a surprisingly dramatic life story as well as a dynamic relationship with other characters in the epic. His character development is here chronicled from conception to death, and his relationships thoroughly examined. As a machiavel of royal birth, abducted after the defeat of his father by the Numenoreans, Ash Nazg has made it his quest to return to the land of his birth at the bidding of his father, ascend the throne of darkness, and claim domination over Middle-earth. By thus characterizing Ash Nazg, this essay not only provides a unique perspective upon the theme of the epic, it again demonstrates the indispensability of character as a literary concept, and thus issues a challenge to the fashionable dogmas of postmodernist thought.
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Date Issued: 2003
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13019
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: BITTERSWEET BLEND: A STUDY OF FAMILY STRIFE AND COMIC RELIEF IN SELECTEDSTORIES OF FRANK O'CONNOR.
Creator: BIAYS, JOHN SHERIDAN, JR., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Frank O'Connor's stories of family strife effectively incorporate comic relief to underscore the essential tragedy and frustration in his protagonists' lives. Through a myriad of Irish idiosyncracies and traditions, O'Connor examines the conflicts that emerge when attempts are made to reconcile impulsive instincts with the bittersweet bonds of family heritage. The first chapter, "The Marriage Trap," explores the dilemma facing couples who seek to escape stagnation; the second chapter, "Role...
Show moreFrank O'Connor's stories of family strife effectively incorporate comic relief to underscore the essential tragedy and frustration in his protagonists' lives. Through a myriad of Irish idiosyncracies and traditions, O'Connor examines the conflicts that emerge when attempts are made to reconcile impulsive instincts with the bittersweet bonds of family heritage. The first chapter, "The Marriage Trap," explores the dilemma facing couples who seek to escape stagnation; the second chapter, "Role Confusian," deals with the tragicomic aspects of assuming different identities; the final chapter, "The Substitute Family," depicts lonely characters' desperate search for warmth in a family of their own invention. For O'Connor's families, seeking fulfillment becomes an anguished search. The author's use of comic relief temporarily offsets, occasionally balances, and ultimately underscores their strife.
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Date Issued: 1984
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14217
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: DIANA, HECATE, LUNA: MOON SYMBOLISM IN THREE PLAYS BY BEN JONSON.
Creator: BRADLEY, MARY T., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The moon as a symbol reflects the social, religious and historical tumult of Ben Jonson's day. In Cynthia's Revels, the moon is a highly mannered, religious symbol with classical overtones. It paid tribute to Elizabeth, another virgin ruler, as well as providing the audience with an ideal of chastity to emulate. In Masque of Queens, the black face of the moon rather than the white appears. Spouting common superstitions of the day, the witches bring to mind the then current religious...
Show moreThe moon as a symbol reflects the social, religious and historical tumult of Ben Jonson's day. In Cynthia's Revels, the moon is a highly mannered, religious symbol with classical overtones. It paid tribute to Elizabeth, another virgin ruler, as well as providing the audience with an ideal of chastity to emulate. In Masque of Queens, the black face of the moon rather than the white appears. Spouting common superstitions of the day, the witches bring to mind the then current religious inquisitions and King James I's fascination with demonology. Last but not least appears Ursula in Bartholomew Fair. Lusty and capricious, she projects the image of the moon promoted by astrologers. Her lunatic influence on her "customers" underlines the impact of the telescope, which by revealing imperfections on the lunar face, brought the moon down to earth. The symbol begins as a transcendant emblem and ends as a mundane caricature.
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Date Issued: 1974
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13644
Subject Headings: Theater, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Evelyn Waugh and the Jews.
Creator: Bittner, David Jonathan, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The anti-Semitism of Evelyn Waugh went beyond mere literary characterization. A study of Waugh's attitudes toward Nazism, Zionism, and World War II provides evidence that the Jewish characterizations in Waugh's work were underlined by stable and settled negative convictions regarding the Jewish people. Waugh's anti-Semitism had surprisingly little to do with Christian religious teaching but may almost entirely be attributed to upper-class British snobbism and his view that Jews were agents of...
Show moreThe anti-Semitism of Evelyn Waugh went beyond mere literary characterization. A study of Waugh's attitudes toward Nazism, Zionism, and World War II provides evidence that the Jewish characterizations in Waugh's work were underlined by stable and settled negative convictions regarding the Jewish people. Waugh's anti-Semitism had surprisingly little to do with Christian religious teaching but may almost entirely be attributed to upper-class British snobbism and his view that Jews were agents of capitalism, democracy, and secularism. Before the Holocaust Waugh gave his anti-Semitism free and unrestrained rein in his novels. After the Holocaust Waugh tried to blunt anti-Semitism in his novels, but the anti-Semitic outlook was so ingrained in him that he was not entirely successful. There are ample signs of old prejudices at play in his post-war writings. Waugh also denied many of his Jewish characters an authentic Jewish voice.
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Date Issued: 1989
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14504
Subject Headings: Religion, General, Literature, English, Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gabriel Conroy and closure in "Dubliners".
Creator: Becker, Virginia Mary, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Gabriel Conroy in "The Dead" appears to be the boy of the first three stories in adulthood. The boy's artistic mind is formed and limited by adult influences so that he dreams of escape. Gabriel has the same artistic disposition and has developed a limited outlet for his talents. He, too, envisions escape. Gabriel's epiphany and his sense of insecurity and pride are so like the boy's that the similarity suggests one character who has developed a habit of introspection. Finally, Gabriel's...
Show moreGabriel Conroy in "The Dead" appears to be the boy of the first three stories in adulthood. The boy's artistic mind is formed and limited by adult influences so that he dreams of escape. Gabriel has the same artistic disposition and has developed a limited outlet for his talents. He, too, envisions escape. Gabriel's epiphany and his sense of insecurity and pride are so like the boy's that the similarity suggests one character who has developed a habit of introspection. Finally, Gabriel's sexual anxiety implies that he fears women and fears his own sexuality. Joyce repeats patterns of imagery in "The Dead" that echo the boy's developing sexuality, indicating that the boy and the man suffer the same fears. Seeing Gabriel Conroy as the boy-narrator of the first three stories creates closure for Dubliners, and it gives the reader insight into the character of Gabriel.
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Date Issued: 1991
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14764
Subject Headings: Literature, Modern, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Imaginative integration in four novels by Doris Lessing.
Creator: Blondin, Brian Gerard, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Within the remarkable diversity of Doris Lessing's fiction, the author's interest in the interrelation between the individual and the collective remains a constant. Her early works pursued this theme within a socio-political framework; however, her continued explorations have evolved an apolitical ethos which unfolds progressively in all of her work since The Golden Notebook. The impetus of this development, which has encouraged Lessing's experiments with various narrative techniques, is her...
Show moreWithin the remarkable diversity of Doris Lessing's fiction, the author's interest in the interrelation between the individual and the collective remains a constant. Her early works pursued this theme within a socio-political framework; however, her continued explorations have evolved an apolitical ethos which unfolds progressively in all of her work since The Golden Notebook. The impetus of this development, which has encouraged Lessing's experiments with various narrative techniques, is her desire to articulate a formula integrating the self with society; in one form or another, the catalyst of this integration is the creative imagination. By tracing related thematic and aesthetic courses of development in four novels--The Golden Notebook, The Four-Gated City, The Making of the Representative for Planet Eight, and The Good Terrorist--this thesis will demonstrate how Lessing's quest for integration has shaped her present apolitical ethos.
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Date Issued: 1989
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14508
Subject Headings: Literature, Modern, Literature, African, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Lucia novels: E. F. Benson's comic reflections on English social change.
Creator: Brister, Winifred Collins, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Edward Frederic Benson's Lucia novels are comic commentaries on social change and the fragmentation of English society from the end of the Edwardian era into the Georgian, especially reflecting the disenchantment of the English people with their traditional beliefs, roles, and class structure. What Matthew Arnold referred to as the Philistines of England--the newly-risen bourgeois--struggle to imitate the upper classes and to emulate their use of leisure time. Benson's characterizations of...
Show moreEdward Frederic Benson's Lucia novels are comic commentaries on social change and the fragmentation of English society from the end of the Edwardian era into the Georgian, especially reflecting the disenchantment of the English people with their traditional beliefs, roles, and class structure. What Matthew Arnold referred to as the Philistines of England--the newly-risen bourgeois--struggle to imitate the upper classes and to emulate their use of leisure time. Benson's characterizations of the villagers of Riseholme and Tilling match closely the descriptions of those Philistines; however, we cannot dislike them for their weaknesses. The positive change in the author's attitude toward them compels us to cheer them on as the victors of the twentieth century.
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Date Issued: 1992
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14877
Subject Headings: Literature, Modern, History, Modern, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Mock-epic elements in two masterpieces: Robert Burns's "Tam o' Shanter" and Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock".
Creator: Beggan, Patricia Louise, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Arguing that "Tam o' Shanter" is a mock epic, this thesis defines the major epic conventions that Robert Burns uses in his masterpiece. As well as using epic features in the action portions of the narrative, Burns uses epic convention to craft a subtle episodic structure. In addition, throughout his poem, Burns subverts epic conventions associated with the epic hero as a way to create his anti-hero, Tam. Comparing Burns's poem to Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" (the standard for...
Show moreArguing that "Tam o' Shanter" is a mock epic, this thesis defines the major epic conventions that Robert Burns uses in his masterpiece. As well as using epic features in the action portions of the narrative, Burns uses epic convention to craft a subtle episodic structure. In addition, throughout his poem, Burns subverts epic conventions associated with the epic hero as a way to create his anti-hero, Tam. Comparing Burns's poem to Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" (the standard for English mock-epic poetry), shows Burns's familiarity with the mock-epic genre generally and with Pope specifically (Burns read and especially admired Pope). The commonalities between the two poems are too numerous to be coincidental; in fact, many times Burns is parodying Pope's poem, thereby parodying a parody.
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Date Issued: 1992
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14793
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The morality theme in "A Room With a View": A study of E. M. Forster's novel and the film adaptation by James Ivory.
Creator: Benghiat, Monique, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: In A Room With A View Forster's allusions to the "mediaeval," the pattern of chapter headings which describes the action, the particular use of names and the way the narrative follows the evolving nature of Lucy Honeychurch's soul reveal a structural similarity to a morality play. In addition, the vivid contrasting elements of Light and Darkness and of Art and Nature establish the morality's opposing framework of Good versus Evil. The overtly visual style of Forster's narrative as well as the...
Show moreIn A Room With A View Forster's allusions to the "mediaeval," the pattern of chapter headings which describes the action, the particular use of names and the way the narrative follows the evolving nature of Lucy Honeychurch's soul reveal a structural similarity to a morality play. In addition, the vivid contrasting elements of Light and Darkness and of Art and Nature establish the morality's opposing framework of Good versus Evil. The overtly visual style of Forster's narrative as well as the essentially dramatic structure of the novel provides director James Ivory a means to successfully adapt Forster's thematic structure to film. Ivory does so by translating the use of literary symbols and motifs into their visual counterparts rather than by merely concentrating on the achievement of narrative fidelity to the novel.
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Date Issued: 1988
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14453
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Mystery, grandeur, and sorriness: The sublime in Thomas Hardy's poetry.
Creator: Barron, Susan Lynn, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: In his poetry, Thomas Hardy creates his own theory of the sublime based on the theories expounded in the eighteenth century. By questioning the miracles, mysteries, and purpose of nature, hardy creates the terror of unknowing that produces the sublime. Hardy's theory of the duality of nature, of its grandeur and its sorriness, is also a characteristic of his sublime. By uncovering the grandeur and latent beauty in disaster, death, the little things, and the ordinary, Hardy generates the...
Show moreIn his poetry, Thomas Hardy creates his own theory of the sublime based on the theories expounded in the eighteenth century. By questioning the miracles, mysteries, and purpose of nature, hardy creates the terror of unknowing that produces the sublime. Hardy's theory of the duality of nature, of its grandeur and its sorriness, is also a characteristic of his sublime. By uncovering the grandeur and latent beauty in disaster, death, the little things, and the ordinary, Hardy generates the pleasure needed to give sublimity to the negative. His descriptions of the sorriness of the destructive powers of winter, time, and war create terror at the realization of the destruction of grandeur, and transform the simply beautiful into the sublime.
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Date Issued: 1990
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14621
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Nature vs. nurture: Filling the parental vacuum in "Nicholas Nickleby", "David Copperfield" and "Great Expectations".
Creator: Aguila, Susan Donath, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: When a boy's mother is absent--either dead or lacking in the maternal graces--it is natural for him to look to his father for additional love and guidance. However, if the father is equally ineffectual, the child may seek outside sources to fill the parental void. Natural parents do not guarantee a nurturing atmosphere. Charles Dickens's novels exhibit this form of familial erosion over and over again; his substitutes for marginal mothers (and, consequently, failing fathers) are aunts and...
Show moreWhen a boy's mother is absent--either dead or lacking in the maternal graces--it is natural for him to look to his father for additional love and guidance. However, if the father is equally ineffectual, the child may seek outside sources to fill the parental void. Natural parents do not guarantee a nurturing atmosphere. Charles Dickens's novels exhibit this form of familial erosion over and over again; his substitutes for marginal mothers (and, consequently, failing fathers) are aunts and uncles, sisters, friends, sweethearts, employers, servants, and, in some cases, the child himself. Primary substitutes are not satisfactory either; Dickens's protagonists must usually go through a couple of failures before the right one is found. It is through this process that the parental vacuum is filled. The works reflect a "Nature vs. Nurture" tug-of-war, with nurture far and away, the winner.
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Date Issued: 1992
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14829
Subject Headings: Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Patriarchal cons: Feminine flirtation in "Twelfth Night".
Creator: Braun, Theresa A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: There is a linguistic homoerotic flirtation between the characters of Viola and Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Through Jane Gallop's analysis of Jacques Lacan, readers can view the eroticized exchange between these female characters by observing the manner in which each character utilizes both words containing feminine roots or metaphors that are feminine in nature. While Viola and Olivia express female-female desire, they search for their own identities in the patriarchal system that...
Show moreThere is a linguistic homoerotic flirtation between the characters of Viola and Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Through Jane Gallop's analysis of Jacques Lacan, readers can view the eroticized exchange between these female characters by observing the manner in which each character utilizes both words containing feminine roots or metaphors that are feminine in nature. While Viola and Olivia express female-female desire, they search for their own identities in the patriarchal system that they must exist. They challenge the idea that women need to be both sexually and verbally passive. Viola represents a woman's removal from and re-emergence into the patriarchal system through her disguise. She is able to use the idea of the phallus in her interaction with Olivia, allowing both characters to experience phallic power---both by wielding power and by affirming their feminine characteristics through specific language.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13281
Subject Headings: Psychology, Social, Women's Studies, Theater, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A preliminary investigation of Old English poetic instrumental interrogative pronouns.
Creator: Balis, Nathaniel Cogswell, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Among the first Old English inflectional forms to vanish were the instrumentals, surviving only in the interrogative pronoun that became the Modern English word "why." Its four synonymous forms were the only Old English words that had exclusively "instrumental" meanings. Despite their apparent importance, in all 30,535 Old English poetry lines, they occur only forty-eight times. This suggests that the Old English poetic instrumental merely imitated the Latin ablative's instrumental usage. Old...
Show moreAmong the first Old English inflectional forms to vanish were the instrumentals, surviving only in the interrogative pronoun that became the Modern English word "why." Its four synonymous forms were the only Old English words that had exclusively "instrumental" meanings. Despite their apparent importance, in all 30,535 Old English poetry lines, they occur only forty-eight times. This suggests that the Old English poetic instrumental merely imitated the Latin ablative's instrumental usage. Old English poets tried to graft onto it their own dative-instrumentals, anticipating in their meanings the goals of their clauses' subjects and in their forms the invariant preposition-plus-dative caseforms gradually replacing most Old English case inflection. This Latin-Old English discord attends all Old English instrumental interrogative clauses.
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Date Issued: 1990
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14574
Subject Headings: Language, Ancient, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Reading Henry: The author's role in Henry James's criticism and in "The Middle Years".
Creator: Alvarez, Camila, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Henry James wrote several works fictionalizing ideas of authorship. No critics have yet looked at "The Middle Years" as an affirmation of the role of the author. Julie Rivkin and Joyce Carol Oates are critics I cite as valuable support to my interpretation of "The Middle Years," a short story that gives us insight into Henry James's critical theory. The story deals with the final days of the author---Dencombe and his creation of a work of art also entitled "The Middle Years." This doubling of...
Show moreHenry James wrote several works fictionalizing ideas of authorship. No critics have yet looked at "The Middle Years" as an affirmation of the role of the author. Julie Rivkin and Joyce Carol Oates are critics I cite as valuable support to my interpretation of "The Middle Years," a short story that gives us insight into Henry James's critical theory. The story deals with the final days of the author---Dencombe and his creation of a work of art also entitled "The Middle Years." This doubling of the title causes authority over the story to become diffused: the real author writes the actual story, while the fictional author owns both the fictional and actual story. Authority is further complicated by the processes of reading and revision. Through these processes, the author and the reader become both creators and spectators. This duality in combination with Dencombe's identification as the ideal author and Dr. Hugh's identification as the ideal reader grants insight into James's stance on the author's role in a work of fiction.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13218
Subject Headings: Literature, American, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NARRATOR AND THE BLACK KNIGHT IN CHAUCER'S "THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS.".
Creator: BING, LOUISE ADELE, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: An examination of the dream-vision form and the Hiddle English lyric clarifies the role relationship in Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess, a relationship not fully clarified by past scholarship. In the dream vision a conventional pattern establishes the relationship between the narrator and his superior guide and, in the English lyric form, the "chanson d'aventure," the narrator encounters a sorrowing figure who provides enlightenment through the explanation of his sorrow. Chaucer employs the...
Show moreAn examination of the dream-vision form and the Hiddle English lyric clarifies the role relationship in Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess, a relationship not fully clarified by past scholarship. In the dream vision a conventional pattern establishes the relationship between the narrator and his superior guide and, in the English lyric form, the "chanson d'aventure," the narrator encounters a sorrowing figure who provides enlightenment through the explanation of his sorrow. Chaucer employs the dream vision's conventional pattern and, in the dream portion of the poem, he makes use of the "chanson d'aventure" form with the added complexities of his own material. His Narrator has forgotten his nature as man. The sorrowing Knight reminds him of the need to feel this emotion, both over the loss of the Duchess and because of man's own fallen state. The Knight, then, becomes a guide who provides enlightenment for the erring Narrator.
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Date Issued: 1973
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13601
Subject Headings: Literature, Medieval, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The state of the union: Bi-gendered redemption in William Blake's "The Four Zoas".
Creator: Brachfeld, Jennifer Louise, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Though William Blake's The Four Zoas is not a finished, illustrated work, it does present the complete story of the fall, death, and redemption of the eternal figure. Blake's characters, equal and interdependent in their gender, ultimately reabsorb into the Eternal Male, Urthona, who lives within the Eternal Female, Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Urthona together create the bi-gendered, eternal figure, or the ultimate eternal state. The original fall from Eternity creates a war against Eternal...
Show moreThough William Blake's The Four Zoas is not a finished, illustrated work, it does present the complete story of the fall, death, and redemption of the eternal figure. Blake's characters, equal and interdependent in their gender, ultimately reabsorb into the Eternal Male, Urthona, who lives within the Eternal Female, Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Urthona together create the bi-gendered, eternal figure, or the ultimate eternal state. The original fall from Eternity creates a war against Eternal Death, in which the original eternal figure separates into zoas and emanations, and then into spectres and shadows; the further away from the eternal figures the characters move, the further debased and corrupted their characters become. The characters ultimately achieve bi-gendered redemption through interdependent cooperation and the use of states.
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Date Issued: 1996
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15355
Subject Headings: Theology, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: TWO WISE MEN IN QUARTET. ELIOT AND SANTAYANA: THE SEARCH FOR FAITH.
Creator: BARNES, JACKIE WARD, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Santayana's thought underlies much of Eliot's poetry. Both Eliot and Santayana were skeptics, and Eliot's skepticism is documented in the quartets, a work that is a personal journal of his search for faith. That search was to be an unsuccessful one, for Eliot realized the impossibility of union with the Absolute. The symbolism of the rosegarden, the bedded axle-tree, the still point, and the clematis, when analyzed, demonstrates Eliot's concept of a clockwork universe, a universe that is...
Show moreSantayana's thought underlies much of Eliot's poetry. Both Eliot and Santayana were skeptics, and Eliot's skepticism is documented in the quartets, a work that is a personal journal of his search for faith. That search was to be an unsuccessful one, for Eliot realized the impossibility of union with the Absolute. The symbolism of the rosegarden, the bedded axle-tree, the still point, and the clematis, when analyzed, demonstrates Eliot's concept of a clockwork universe, a universe that is unknowing and uncaring. Eliot reaches that concept, basically, because of Santayana's influence.
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Date Issued: 1983
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14152
Subject Headings: Literature, American, Literature, English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Vision and revision: The perceptual modes of Henry James.
Creator: Allen, Kevin Ray, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: For Henry James, artistic vision is essentially revision. It is a process of transformation: of literal experience to "felt life," of pictorial presentation to dramatic representation, of the past to the present. This process is a central element of James's fiction. The "meaning" of stories such as "The Real Thing" and "The Middle Years" and novels such as The Ambassadors depends on a growth of vision. Their protagonists must be able to overcome the limits of their imaginations. They must be...
Show moreFor Henry James, artistic vision is essentially revision. It is a process of transformation: of literal experience to "felt life," of pictorial presentation to dramatic representation, of the past to the present. This process is a central element of James's fiction. The "meaning" of stories such as "The Real Thing" and "The Middle Years" and novels such as The Ambassadors depends on a growth of vision. Their protagonists must be able to overcome the limits of their imaginations. They must be reflective, both intellectually and mimetically. In demanding a finer kind of artistic perception, James pointed the way for a younger generation of writers and critics. James's vision was broad enough to encompass classic critical ideals and artistic goals that would be achieved years after he struggled with them.
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Date Issued: 1992
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14863
Subject Headings: Literature, American, Literature, English, Language, General
Format: Document (PDF)

Literature, American (4)	+ -
Literature, Modern (4)	+ -
Literature, Medieval (2)	+ -
Theater (2)	+ -
History, Modern (1)	+ -

Language, Ancient (1)	+ -
Language, General (1)	+ -
Literature, African (1)	+ -
Psychology, Social (1)	+ -
Religion, General (1)	+ -
Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies (1)	+ -
Theology (1)	+ -
Women's Studies (1)	+ -

Department of English (21)	+ -
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters (21)	+ -
Aguila, Susan Donath (1)	+ -
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