Search Results

open access

"Fools for Christ": An Examination of the Ministerial Call in Three Novels by William Golding

Description: This thesis examines the ministerial call in three novels by William Golding, specifically The Spire, Darkness Visible, and Rites of Passage. The central character of each novel, a Christian minister, has a vision, or series of visions, which dominates his life. The call and vision(s) of Golding's ministers are examined in light of Jacques Ellul's The Humiliation of the Word, a work examining the differences between the word and the image. The ministerial call, in this thesis, is linked to Ellu… more
Date: December 1987
Creator: Adcox, John Roland
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Celtic Elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Description: The medieval English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight evidences much of its Celtic heritage in the plot and subplot, as well as in the characters themselves. The Ulster Cycle, an ancient Irish story group, and the Mabinogion, a medieval collection of traditional Welsh tales, both contain parallels to the English romance. In addition to these numerous analogues, other Celtic features appear in the poem. Knowingly or not, the Gawain-poet used the conventions of the Irish and Welsh traditions … more
Date: August 1980
Creator: Alewine, Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Anti-Christian Elements in Thomas Hardy's Novels

Description: A commonplace among Hardy critics is that as a young man Hardy lost his Christian faith and entered a serious religious disillusionment. The mainstream of Hardy criticism has followed the general consensus that Hardy suffered keenly as a result of this experience and looked back on Christianity with poignant nostalgia. If his view is not purely nostalgic, traditional criticism has insisted, then it seems at worst only ambivalent. The purpose of this dissertation is to argue that Hardy's attitud… more
Date: May 1975
Creator: Alexander, B. J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Definition of Brackenridge's "Modern Chivalry"

Description: Early American writer Hugh Henry Brackenridge conceived and developed a code of modern chivalry in his writings that culminated in the long prose satire Modern Chivalry. He first introduced his code in the poem "The Modern Chevalier," in which a modern knight is shown traveling about the country in an attempt to understand and correct the political absurdities of the people. In Modern Chivalry, this code is developed in the three major themes of rationalism, morality, and moderation and the rel… more
Date: December 1979
Creator: Alexander, Teresa L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The American Southern Demogogue and His Effect on Personal Associates

Description: The nature of the American Southern demagogue, best exemplified by Huey Pierce Long, is examined. Four novels which are based on Long's life: Sun in Capricorn by Hamilton Basso, Number One by John Dos Passos, A Lion Is in the Streets by Adria Locke Langley and All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, are used to exemplify literary representations of Long. First the individual personalities of the four demagogue characters are described. Next, the relationships of female associates to the dema… more
Date: May 1976
Creator: Allen, Charline
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Spinster and Flabby Lucy

Description: Many contemporary writers maintain that a prime requisite of poetry is autobiographical sincerity. They would have the poet commit himself to an openness with his audience that is usually reserved for only the most intimate relationships. The thirty-two poems of this thesis were written as a reaction to current confessional trends and postulate that the creation of fictions to live by is an intrinsic part of the human process. Central to the work is the idea that past fictions, traditions, and … more
Date: August 1976
Creator: Angel, Shelly
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Analysis of Angus Wilson's "No Laughing Matter"

Description: This thesis examines Angus Wilson's novels with particular attention to No Laughing Matter, 1967. The introductory overview of Wilson's first five novels and the examination of No Laughing Matter show that all Wilson's novels are concerned with his protagonists' capacity for self-deception and the ways deception limits freedom of choice. In No Laughing Matter six protagonists try to balance self-deception and freedom both in their lives and in the art forms which interest them. The thesis trac… more
Date: December 1975
Creator: Arnold, Gloria Cockerell
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Study of the Low-Back Vowels and of Certain Diphthongs in the Speech of Selected Groups in Denton, Texas

Description: American dialect studies have progressed rapidly within the last thirty years, but the progress seems to be concentrated within the Southern and New England areas of the United States. Though there have been studies made in other areas, they are sporadic, no work of any significance having yet been published. Texas, unfortunately, is one area of rich dialectal significance which has been neglected, with the exception of Oma Stanley's work on the dialect in East Texas. Even though that work is s… more
Date: June 1962
Creator: Askew, John Wesley
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's Treatment of Women in Four Social Plays

Description: The purpose of this thesis is to survey Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's treatment and development of the leading women in four of his most highly regarded "social" plays. Their texts will be analyzed carefully in order to arrive at answers to the following questions: What problems do these women confront and how do they attempt to solve them? What are the factors which determine their success or failure? Are their failures due to inherent flaws in character or outside influences? To what extent do the… more
Date: August 1967
Creator: Bailey, Don B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Rain and Diagonal Light: Nature Imagery in the Novels of John Cheever

Description: John Cheever uses nature imagery, particularly images of light and water, to support his main themes of nostalgia, memory, tradition, alienation, travel, and confinement in his five novels. In the novels these images entwine and intersect to reveal Cheever's vision of an attainable earthly paradise comprised of familial love and an appreciation of the beauties and strengths of the natural world.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Baker, Cynthia J. (Cynthia Jane)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Epoch Stages of Consciousness in The Rainbow

Description: In The Rainbow D. H. Lawrence departs from traditional literary techniques, going below the level of ego consciousness within his characters to focus on the elemental dynamic forces of their unconscious minds. Using three generations of the Brangwen family, Lawrence traces the rise of consciousness from the primal unity of the uroboros through the matriarchal epoch and finally to full consciousness, the realization of the self, in Ursula Brangwen. By correlating the archetypal symbols character… more
Date: May 1978
Creator: Bardas, Mary Louise Ivey
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Orality, Literacy, and Heroism in Huckleberry Finn

Description: This work re-assesses the heroic character of Huckleberry Finn in light of the inherent problems of discourse. Walter Ong's insights into the differences between oral and literate consciousnesses, and Stanley Fish's concept of "interpretive communities" are applied to Huck's interactions with the other characters, revealing the underlying dynamic of his character, the need for a viable discourse community. Further established, by enlisting the ideas of Ernest Becker, is that this need for commu… more
Date: August 1986
Creator: Barrow, William David, 1955-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Poetic Voice and the Romantic Tradition in the Poetry of Maxine Kumin

Description: The purpose of this study is to explore elements of the Romantic tradition in the poetry of Maxine Kumin and the poetic voice of Ms. Kumin as she writes in this tradition. The poet's choice of poetic-persona illustrates a growth of the consciousness, an identity of self. Of particular interest is the poet's close interaction with nature and use of natural symbols and images. A principal motif in Kumin's poetry is the common man. Another theme is the poet's role in the family. In poems exalting … more
Date: December 1979
Creator: Barton, Beverly D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Noh Plays of William Butler Yeats: Accomplishment in Failure

Description: This paper is a study of the effect of W. B. Yeats's contact with Japanese Noh drama on his work. The immediately discernible effect on his work can be seen, of course, in his adaptation of Noh dramatic form to his Four Plays for Dancers and The Death of Cuchulain. It is the thesis of this paper, then, that, despite many handicaps, Yeats's aesthetic background was not only sufficient to discover what suggestion did lie in the limited information available to him concerning Noh, but also suffi… more
Date: May 1971
Creator: Bays, Carol Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

John Donne's Double Vision : Basic Dualities in the Sermon Literature

Description: This thesis is concerned with establishing the basis for evaluating John Donne's sermon literature as a thematic whole. In order to demonstrate this thematic unity and continuity, this study shows how Donne employes several bodies of imagery which reflect his double vision of man and sin and provide the basis for discussing the basic dualities in the bulk of Donne's 160 extant sermons.
Date: May 1971
Creator: Beck, Allen D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Graham Greene and the Idea of Childhood

Description: A marked preoccupation with childhood is evident throughout the works of Graham Greene; it receives most obvious expression in his concern with the idea that the course of a man's life is determined during his early years, but many of his other obsessive themes, such as betrayal, pursuit, and failure, may be seen to have their roots in general types of experience which Greene evidently believes to be common to all children.
Date: June 1966
Creator: Bell, Martha Frances
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Thomas Mann's Use of Myth

Description: The subject of Mann's early fiction is a very modern one, dealing almost exclusively with the problems of the artist in bourgeois society. His work can be divided generally into two parts: the early writings, which examine the different aspects of the dilemma of the artist and the search for a unifying myth, and the later works, which explore the "lived myth" as a way to life and art.
Date: January 1970
Creator: Bell, Rea Moody
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Shakespeare's Richard III: The Sources for his Characterization and Actions in the First Tetralogy

Description: A thorough study of the progressive development of the description of Richard in the sources of Shakespeare's play and a comparison of the results of such a study with Shakespeare's portrait may make possible a deeper and clearer understanding of the character of the man as well as some further insight into the methods of Shakespeare's art.
Date: August 1968
Creator: Bender, Connie Patterson
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Transcendental Experience of the English Romantic Poets

Description: This study is an exploration into the Romantics' transcendence of the dualistic world view and their attainment of a holistic vision. Chapter I formulates a dichotomy between the archaic (sacrosanct) world view and the modern (mechanistic) world view. Chapter II discusses the reality of the religious experience in Romanticism. Chapter III elucidates the Romantics' use of mystic myths and noetic symbols. Chapter IV treats the Romantic transcendence of the dualistic world view and the problems of… more
Date: August 1974
Creator: Berliner, Donna Gaye
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Literary Commune

Description: Initially, this work recognizes that college students often fail to understand or to appreciate the language of literature; therefore, a proposal has been developed that incorporates the typical methods and media of two academic areas--literature and oral interpretation--into a synchronized dual approach to the study of literature. Chapter I discusses contemporary problems of literacy in general; Chapter II explores the traditional teaching approaches of English and oral interpretation; and Cha… more
Date: August 1974
Creator: Black, Ann N.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

"Mahala" by Chris Barnard, Translated from the Afrikaans

Description: Afrikaans, the world's youngest language, is not known to many outside South Africa. Mahala, a novel in that language by a major writer, has been translated as an example of South African literary resources yet to be made accessible to English readers. Chapter One (the Foreword) contains historical notes on the Afrikaans language and on Barnard's biography, including his publications and literary awards. Chapter Two is a complete translation (currently the only one) of Chris Barnard' s Mahala. … more
Date: December 1976
Creator: Bond, Desmond H.
Partner: UNT Libraries
Back to Top of Screen