- Shakespeare's Monarchical Views
- The purpose of this study is to treat one aspect of Shakespeare's political views, his views on monarchy as found in the two great English history tetralogies, and to compare them to the monarchical views of his age. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108027/
- The Use of Art Objects in the Fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- This study is not concerned with the evaluation of Hawthorne's artistic criticism but with the uses he made art objects in his writing. Such a study should give suggestions for interpretation of his works, as well as information concerning literary devices and technique in style. It should consider the contribution of the art objects to the literary artistry of the works in which they appear. Such a study has not previously been made. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108039/
- Epic Qualities in Moby-Dick
- Many critics not satisfied with explaining Moby-Dick in terms of the novel, have sough analogies in other literary genres. Most often parallels have been drawn from epic and dramatic literature. Critics have called Moby-Dick either an epic or a tragedy. After examining the evidence presented by both schools of thought, after establishing a workable definition of the epic and listing the most common epic devices, and after examining Moby-Dick in terms of this definition and discovering many of the epic devices in it, I propose the thesis that Melville has written an epic, not unlike the great epics of the past. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130299/
- The Problem of the Artist in Society : Hawthorne, James, and Hemingway
- The relationship of James to Hawthorne and of Hemingway to James certainly indicates the close literary relationship of the three writers. This development makes it seem only natural that three such self-conscious artists would have recourse to similar interests and would employ in their writings common themes, ideas, and methods. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108090/
- A Study of Mechanics: Prescription and Use
- This thesis studies historical punctuation its uses and standards developed. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130281/
- Religion as a Factor in the Literary Career of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The purpose of this study is to evaluate various religious elements in Nathainel Hawthorne's life in relation to his career as a literary artist. The moral seriousness of this author at once strikes us as being something closely akin to religious sentiment, but he refused to endorse any specific dogma or to subscribe to any one organized faith. We know from his work that he had a religion, but his silence leaves ample room for conjecture if we wish to "label" him, or decide which of those religions that he contemplated was most congenial to his nature. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130289/
- Senecan and Other Influences on Six Elizabethan Revenge Plays
- This thesis traces the revival of Senecan tragedy from 1570 to the end of the sixteenth century through some of the earlier translations, adaptations, and imitations, and to evaluate the significance of the final evolution of such works into the Elizabethan tragedy of revenge. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130328/
- Practical Astronomy
- This dissertation is a collection of poems preceded by a critical preface. The preface considers Anthony’s Hecht’s long poem, “The Venetian Vespers,” and the ways in which the temporally unsettled situation of the poem’s speaker parallels a problem facing narrative-meditative poets. The preface is divided into two main sections that explore divisions of this larger conflict. The first discusses the origins and effects of the speaker’s uprootedness in time, and the ways in which he tries to both combat and embrace this dislocation by temporarily losing himself in the immediacy of observing visual art. In this section I connect the dilemma of the speaker, who wishes to escape his memory by focusing outwards, to the dilemma of a representational poet who, despite his position towards the past, must necessarily confront or recollect memories and emotions in order to create authentic descriptions or characters. The second section focuses on the production and appreciation of artistic works (both visual and literary) and how the meaning, production and appreciation of beauty are inseparable from its existence within the physical limits of time. Here I discuss the significance of Hecht’s character who is surrounded with beauty yet describes himself as a person who only observes and does not create anything. Through this character, I argue that Hecht reveals a fundamental conflict that exists between artistic creation and chronological time, and that his poem embodies a particular and paradoxical view of beauty that resonates deeply with the motivations and struggles of writing poems. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149687/
- Set for Life: a Novel
- This collection of six chapters is an excerpt from a novel based on the book of Job, as told through the viewpoint of a contemporary woman from Texas. A preface exploring the act of starting over, fictionally and creatively, precedes the chapters. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149574/
- Antigravity
- This dissertation contains two parts: Part I, which discusses the elegy of possessive intent, a subgenre of the contemporary American elegy; and Part II, Antigravity, a collection of poems. English elegies have been closely rooted to a specific grief, making the poems closer to occasional poems. The poet—or at least the poet’s speaker—seeks some kind of public consolation for (often) a private loss. The Americanized form does stray from the traditional elegy yet retains some of its characteristics. Some American elegies memorialize failed romantic relationships rather than the dead. In their memorials, these speakers seek a completion for the lack the broken relationship has created in the speakers’ lives. What they can’t replace, they substitute with something personal. As the contemporary poem becomes further removed from tradition, it’s no surprise that the elegy has evolved as well. Discussions of elegies have never ventured into the type of elegy that concerns itself with the sort of unacknowledged loss found in some contemporary American poems of unrequited love. These poems all have speakers who willfully refuse to acknowledge the loss of their love-objects and strive to maintain control/ownership of their beloveds even in the face of rejection. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149563/
- Irony, Humor, and Ontological Relationality in Literature
- The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate ontological relationality in literary theory and criticism by critically reflecting on modern theories of literature and by practically examining the literary texts of Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and Oscar Wilde. Traditional studies of literary texts have been oriented toward interpretative or hermeneutic methodologies, focusing on an independent and individual subject in literature. Instead, I explore how relational ontology uncovers the interactive structures interposed between the author, the text, and the audience by examining the system of how the author's creative positioning provokes the reader's reaction through the text. In Chapter I, I critically inquire into modern literary theories of "irony" in Romanticism, New Criticism, and Deconstructionism to show how they tend to disregard the dynamic dimension of interactive relationships between different literary subjects. Chapter II scrutinizes Wilde's humor in An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) in order to reveal the ontological relationships triggered by a creative positioning. In chapter III, I examine Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400) and the laughter in "The Miller's Tale" in particular, to examine the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of its interactive relationships. In Chapter IV, I explore Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99), Othello (1603-4), and The Winter's Tale (1609-11) so as to show how artistic positioning creatively constructs a relational system of dynamic interactions to circulate social ideals and values. In so doing, this dissertation is aimed at revealing the aesthetic values of literature and the objective scope of literary discourse rather than providing yet another analytical paradigm dependent primarily on a single literary subject. Thus, the ontological study is proposed as an alternative, yet primary, dimension of literary criticism and theoretical practice. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149621/
- The Hostess
- The following is a critical preface and portion of a novel-in-progress produced during my master's program in creative writing at the University of North Texas. The preface analyzes the way time and point of view work together to create or determine structure in fiction, as well as provide added meaning. In order to explore these topics I focus on two novels, Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, and speak to how these elements have influenced my own writing style in The Hostess. The Hostess is a story about a group of twenty-something’s working together in a restaurant located in a Mid-West, college town, told from multiple character perspectives, as they struggle to choose between pursuing their passions and creating stability in their lives. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149674/
- Structure as a Literary Technique in the Major Novels of Ernest Hemingway
- The purpose of this thesis is to study the structure of the five major novels of Hemingway, excluding Torrents of Spring and Across the River and into the Trees. They are: The Sun also Rises; A Farewell to Arms; To Have and Have not; For Whom the Bell Tolls; and The Old Man and the Sea. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc107906/
- Henry David Thoreau as a Social Critic
- A study of Henry David Thoreau's opinions on religion, economics, politics, government, and major political issues of his time. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc75399/
- Aspects of Reform in Certain Novels of Charles Dickens
- A study of aspects of reform in certain novels of Charles Dickens. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc75401/
- A Survey of Shakespearean Productions in New York: 1935-1955
- The aim of this thesis is to present a comprehensive view--a survey--of plays by William Shakespeare that have been produced for the New York stage from 1935 through 1955 in order to ascertain not only the quantity of Shakespearean drama that has been presented during this twenty-one-year period, but also to appraise the quality of the productions as seen by the critics. A related aim of this study will be the analysis of the televised Shakespearean plays by presenting the works and their merits through the eyes of the critics of that medium. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc107911/
- Falsity in Man: Tennessee Williams' Vision of Tragedy
- It is the purpose of this paper to examine the major plays of Tennessee Williams in an effort to formulate the key concepts which appear in the work of a modern successful dramatist who is sensitive to the tragedy of man and to discover Williams' beliefs in regard to man, his need, and the tragedy that results if he does not find the fulfillment of his nature. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc107910/
- The Use of Geography in Whitman's Leaves of Grass
- A study of the significance of Walt Whitman's use of geography in Leaves of Grass. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc53444/
- Characterization of the Heroine in the Fiction of Ernest Hemingway
- The purpose of this paper is to examine both the women in Hemingway's life and his works, to search for influences exerted by the biographical women, to categorize the fictional women, and to draw whatever conclusions the evidence may justify. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc107924/
- The Use of Water in the Writing of Ernest Hemingway
- This thesis explores the use of water in the writing of Ernest Hemingway. It includes chapters concerning rivers, rain, lakes, and the oceans. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108101/
- Aristotelian Elements in Tragic Drama from Sophocles to O'Neil
- This thesis explores Aristotelian elements in tragic drama from Sophocles to O'Neill. It is limited to a discussion of plot and character with thought, diction, song and spectacle considered only as they apply to the other two. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108102/
- The Theme of Isolation in the Novels of Daniel Defoe
- It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate from the novels themselves that Defoe's protagonists are essentially isolated individuals and that this isolation is the result of the circumstances of their births, the nature of their professions, their spiritually isolating religious beliefs, and their attitudes toward their fellow men. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108106/
- Some Lexical Variants of Pioneer Ellis County
- The purpose of this study is to give the common words, together with a collection of old expressions or terms, of the oldest residents of Ellis County and to trace their usage to the states in the Old South. The importance of recording these old words and terms is to preserve the oldest forms of the community for those who are interested in the growth and development of local speech and, also, to trace the history of these words. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130242/
- Autobiographical Elements in the Works of Charles Dickens
- This thesis endeavors to show how Charles Dickens revealed himself and his life in his works. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130244/
- A New Approach to Teaching Grammar in the Ninth Grade
- By presenting first, statement of theory, and then concrete examples and original exercises, wherever practical, this thesis suggests possible ways to combine linguistic methods with traditional ones to make a more effective approach to teaching language in the ninth grade. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108085/
- Cosmetic Names : Their Formations and Semantic Implications
- In order to discover the semantic implications involved in advertising in general, the present study is confined to an investigation of the names of perfumes and lipsticks, taken as representative of the broader field. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130301/
- Ability Grouping in Secondary English
- This thesis discusses the pros and cons of grouping by ability in secondary English. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130279/
- Chaucer's Devices for Securing Verisimilitude in the Canterbury Tales
- This thesis explores Chaucer's devices for securing verisimilitude by various methods in the Canterbury Tales. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130273/
- A Structural Analysis of The Brothers Karamazov
- The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the structural unity of The Brothers Karamazov through the isolation and analyzation of the various techniques used by Dostoyevsky to unify the novel. In order to retain more than a few impressions and remembrances of outstanding events, in order to retain the novel itself, the reader needs to be aware of the structure of the work. If the fullest realization of the novel depends upon the reader's perception of its structure, the structure becomes the important critical element. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130451/
- Literary and Realistic Influences upon the Women of the Spectator
- This study will outline the two great literary genres of character-writing and satire, upon the tradition and practice of which Joseph Addison and Richard Steele based their characters of women in the Spectator. The three-fold purpose of this study is to determine how the Spectator was influenced by, and what it in turn contributed to, the two literary genres, the "Character" of women and satire on women; and to present the social status of the female audience as it existed and as the Spectator sought to improve it. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130294/
- A New Literary Realism: Artistic Renderings of Ethnicity, Identity, and Sexuality in the Narratives of Philip Roth
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This dissertation explores Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (1959), the Ghost Writer (1979), the Counterlife (1986), the Facts (1988), Operation Shylock (1993), Sabbath's Theater (1995),and the Human Stain (2000), arguing that Roth relishes the telling of the story and the search for self within that telling. with attention to narrative technique and its relation to issues surrounding reality and identity, Roth's narratives stress unreliability, causing Roth to create characters searching for a more complex interpretation of self. Chapter I examines Roth’s negotiation of dual identities as Neil Klugman in Goodbye, Columbus feels alienated and displaced from Christianized America. the search for identity and the merging of American Christianity and Judaism remain a focus in Chapter II, which explores the implications of how, in the Ghost Writer, a young Nathan Zuckerman visits his mentor E.I. Lonoff to find him living in what he believes to be a non-Jewish environment—the American wilderness. Chapter II also examines the difficulties of cultural assimilation in "Eli, the Fanatic," in which Eli must shed outward appearances of Judaism to fit into the mostly Protestant community of Woodenton. Relative to the negotiation of multiple identities, Chapter III considers Sabbath’s attempt, in Sabbath’s Theater, to reconcile his spiritual and physical self when seeking to avoid his inevitable death. Exploring a further dimension of the search for self, Chapter IV traces the legacy of stereotyped notions of identity, considering ways in which Roth subverts stereotypes in the Human Stain. the search for identity and its particular truths remains a focus of Chapter V, which explores Roth's creation of an unstable reality through the Counterlife, the Facts, Operation Shylock, and the Human Stain, suggesting that the literary imagination matters more than truth in fiction. in its attention to Roth's focus on identity, race, and narrative technique, this dissertation contributes to the evolution of criticism addressing the social significance of the major works of Philip Roth. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115092/ - Road Debris
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This dissertation comprises two parts: Part I, which discusses the growing trend in project books in contemporary poetry, and Part II, a collection of poems titled, Road Debris. There is an increasing trend in the number of project books, which are collections of poetry unified in both thematic and formal ways. the individual poems in a project book share overt connections which allow the book to work on many different levels, blending elements of fiction and non-fiction or sharing a specific theme or speaker. While these books have the advantage of being easily memorable, which might gain poets an edge in book contests, there are also many risks involved. the main issue surrounding project books is if the individual poems can justify the book, or do they seem too repetitive or forced. As more poets, especially newer ones, try to use the project book as a shortcut to publication, it can result in poorly written poems forced to fit into a particular concept. By examining three successful cotemporary project books—The Quick of It, by Eamon Grennan; Incident Light, by H. L. Hix; and Romey’s Order by Astory Riley—this essay discusses how these books work in order to understand the potential of the project book. All of these books work in distinctly different ways, yet they all fall into the category of project book. While project books will inevitably result in poor imitations, it allows books of poetry to expand and explore in different directions. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115068/ - The Salome Legend in the Arts
- This study of the Salome legend in the arts covers the historical background of the Salome legend, Salome in the early Christian era and in the Middle Ages, Salome in the Renaissance, and Salome in modern times. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130308/
- Techniques and Content in Thornton Wilder: a Critical Re-Evaluation
- The aim of this paper is not to disprove previous interpretations of Wilder's work, but to enlarge on them. The problem is not that the opinions of the early critics and many of the later ones were incorrect; the were merely incomplete. This paper shall attempt to show that Wilder's major thematic material falls into two interlocking and overlapping groups. Repeatedly Wilder deals with the relationship of man to something beyond himself, and the relationship of man to individual man and to mankind. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108064/
- Christian Orthodoxy in the English Novel 1930-1950
- This thesis discusses Christian orthodoxy in the English novel during the time period from 1930 to 1950. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108021/
- Tolstoy in America, 1890-1910
- It is the purpose of this investigation to examine his popularity and influence in the United States during this period so as to provide a basis for a considered and adequate understanding of the problems and their implications. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108059/
- A Language Arts Program for Ninth-Grade Slow Learning Pupils
- The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of discerning the traits of a group of pupils who have low levels of learning and developing for them a more appropriate "differentiated program" of instruction in language arts. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108022/
- A Comparison of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II and William Shakespeare's Richard II
- This study purports to examine several areas of similarity between the chronicle history plays by Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Edward II and Richard II are alike in many ways, most strikingly in the similarity of the stories themselves. But this is a superficial likeness, for there are many other likenesses--in purpose, in artistry, in language--which demonstrate more clearly than the parallel events of history the remarkable degree to which these plays resemble each other. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108070/
- Today is Past
- Today is Past is a serious play in which the main character does not meet defeat at the end. This is not to say, however, that the play has a conventional happy ending. It hasn't. But at the final curtain the protagonist has made an important decision which will determine the direction of her life. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108008/
- The Treatment of Nature in Thomas Hardy's Six Major Novels
- The purpose of this thesis is to examine Thomas Hardy's treatment of nature in his major works. His interpretation of nature was sharply divergent from the traditional viewpoint regarding the natural world, and it was the direct antithesis of those interpretations of nature made by the writers who had preceded him. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc108031/
- A Study of the Social Background of the Characters in O. Henry's New York Short Stories
- The problem of this research is to determine whether or not O. Henry pictured the existing social conditions of the period in his New York stories and whether his characters are representative of people who actually lived at that time. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83342/
- American Background in Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha"
- The background for "The Song of Hiawatha" is explicitly American, for Longfellow has preserved many legends, traditions, and customs of the aborigines with fidelity. As a whole, "The Song of Hiawatha" is a successful delineation of the aborigines of North America. Longfellow preserved the most interesting legends and supplemented them with accounts of Indian life. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83348/
- Henry David Thoreau: a Study of Character
- This thesis looks at the characteristics of Henry David Thoreau through his writings rather than through what other critics have written. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83349/
- The Development of the Unheroic Hero in the Modern Novel
- This thesis explores the development of the unheroic hero in the modern novel. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130337/
- Music in the Fiction of Willa Cather
- This thesis explores the use of music in the literary works of author Willa Cather. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130334/
- The Contribution of Scholarship Toward an Understanding and Appreciation of Chaucer
- In the more than five hundred years since the death of Geoffrey Chaucer, scholars have labored steadfastly to bring to light early criticisms of the poet's works, comments on his life and the customs of his time, and any recorded facts that would contribute in any way toward a better understanding and appreciation of the Canterbury Tales, the poet's life, and the practices of his age. It is the purpose of this study to show this contribution of scholarship; and the writer has relied heavily upon the publications made by T. R. Lounsbury, Caroline Spurgeon, and F. N. Robinson, each of whom has brought together the results of scholarship up to his own time and without whose works this writer's task would have been impossible. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130365/
- The Epic Element in Hiawatha
- By tracing the development of the epic, oral and written, as in Chapter III, the qualities that are characteristic of the epic and the devices associated with the epic through continued usage were found to be the constant factors upon which the definition of the epic is formulated. The application to Hiawatha of the epic definition in terms of form, theme, subject matter, characters, tone, the use of the supernatural, and the use of characteristic devices, strengthens the thesis that Longfellow has written an epic. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130317/
- Mark Twain's Representation of the American West
- The purpose of this paper is to picture the West as Mark Twain saw it. Many books have been written which describe Twain's Western years, but few have given much consideration to the accuracy of his account of the West in the 1860's. This paper attempts to portray Twain not only as a social and political satirist, but also as a possible historical satirist. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130316/
- Mark Twain as a Literary Critic
- The purpose of this thesis is to present essays and letters in which Mark Twain discussed the art of writing or assumed the role of a literary critic. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130335/
- "Is She Going to Die or Survive with Her Baby?": The Aftermath of Illegitimate Pregnancies in the Twentieth Century American Novels
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This dissertation is mainly based on the reading of three American novels to explore how female characters deal with their illegitimate pregnancies and how their solutions re-shape their futures and affect their inner growth. Chapter 1 discusses Dorinda Oakley's premarital pregnancy in Ellen Glasgow's Barren Ground and draws the circle of limits from Barbara Welter's "four cardinal virtues" (purity, submissiveness, domesticity, and piety) which connect to the analogous female roles (daughter, sister, wife, and mother). Dorinda's childless survival reconstructs a typical household from her domination and absence of maternity. Chapter 2 examines Ántonia Shimerda's struggles and endurance in My Ántonia by Willa Cather before and after Ántonia gives birth to a premarital daughter. Ántonia devotes herself to being a caring mother and to looking after a big family although her marriage is also friendship-centered. Chapter 3 adopts a different approach to analyze Charlotte Rittenmeyer's extramarital pregnancy in The Wild Palms by William Faulkner. As opposed to Dorinda and Ántonia who re-enter domesticity to survive, Charlotte runs out on her family and dies of a botched abortion. To help explain the aftermath of illicit pregnancies, I extend or shorten John Duvall's formula of female role mutations: "virgin>sexually active (called whore)>wife" to examine the riddles of female survival and demise. The overall argument suggests that one way or another, nature, society, and family are involved in illegitimately pregnant women's lives, and the more socially compliant a pregnant woman becomes after her transgression, the better chance she can survive with her baby. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5316/