You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Encounters between mind and world in the poetry of William Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
1991
Summary:
The interaction between mind (consciousness) and world (sensory phenomena) is explored in depth by poets William Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens, with particular attention given to the role of imagination. In The Prelude, Wordsworth describes events from his own early life, encounters between mind and world, leading to the development of a poetic sensibility. Stevens, writing in a playful, improvisational style very different from Wordsworth's, examines a variety of encounters between characters such as Crispin in "The Comedian as the Letter C" and external reality. For both poets, the boundaries between mind and world are indeterminate, and the question of supremacy in their dynamic relationship is unresolved. Yet the sense of a "something" that grounds this interplay, what Stevens identifies as "Being," leads the ever-active imagination to do its work, at home in the world.
Title: Encounters between mind and world in the poetry of William Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens.
98 views
41 downloads
Name(s): Sakal, Nancy.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Pearce, Howard D., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1991
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 81 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The interaction between mind (consciousness) and world (sensory phenomena) is explored in depth by poets William Wordsworth and Wallace Stevens, with particular attention given to the role of imagination. In The Prelude, Wordsworth describes events from his own early life, encounters between mind and world, leading to the development of a poetic sensibility. Stevens, writing in a playful, improvisational style very different from Wordsworth's, examines a variety of encounters between characters such as Crispin in "The Comedian as the Letter C" and external reality. For both poets, the boundaries between mind and world are indeterminate, and the question of supremacy in their dynamic relationship is unresolved. Yet the sense of a "something" that grounds this interplay, what Stevens identifies as "Being," leads the ever-active imagination to do its work, at home in the world.
Identifier: 14740 (digitool), FADT14740 (IID), fau:11531 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1991.
Subject(s): Wordsworth, William,--1770-1850--Criticism and interpretation
Stevens, Wallace,--1879-1955--Criticism and interpretation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14740
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.