A literary study of paranormal experience in Tennyson's poetry
- Louw, Denise Elizabeth Laurence
- Authors: Louw, Denise Elizabeth Laurence
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892 -- Criticism and interpretation Parapsychology in literature -- Research Romanticism -- 19th century -- Research English poetry -- 19th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2249 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002292
- Description: My thesis is that many of Tennyson's apparently paranormal experiences are explicable in terms of temporal lobe epilepsy; and that a study of the occurrence, in the work of art, of phenomena associated with these experiences, may be useful in elucidating the workings of the aesthetic imagination. A body of knowledge relevant to paranormal experience in Tennyson's life and work, assembled from both literary and biographical sources, is applied to a Subjective Paranormal Experience Questionnaire, compiled by Professor V.M. Neppe, in order to establish the range of the poet's apparently "psychic" experiences. The information is then analysed in terms of the symptomatology of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and the problems of differential diagnosis are considered. It is shown, by means of close and comparative analyses of a number of poems, that recurring clusters of images in Tennyson's poetry may have their genesis in TLE. These images are investigated in terms of modern research into altered states of consciousness. They are found to be consistent with a "model" of the three stages of trance experience constructed by Professor A.D. Lewis-Williams to account for shamanistic rock art in the San, Coso and Upper Paleolithic contexts. My study of the relevant phenomena in the work of a nineteenth century English poet would seem to offer cross-cultural verification of the applicability of the model to a range of altered-state contexts. This study goes on to investigate some of the psychological processes which may influence the way in which pathology is manifested in the poetry of Alfred Tennyson. But, throughout the investigation, the possible effects of literary precursors and of other art forms are acknowledged. The subjective paranormal phenomena in Tennyson's poems are compared not only with some modern neuropsychiatric cases, but also with those of several nineteenth-century writers who seem to have had similar experiences . These include Dostoevsky and Edward Lear, who are known to have been epileptics, and Edgar Allan Poe. Similarity between some aspects of Tennyson's work and that of various Romantic poets, notably Shelley, is stressed; and it is tentatively suggested that it might be possible to extrapolate from my findings in this study to a more general theory of the "Romantic" imagination.
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- Authors: Louw, Denise Elizabeth Laurence
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892 -- Criticism and interpretation Parapsychology in literature -- Research Romanticism -- 19th century -- Research English poetry -- 19th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2249 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002292
- Description: My thesis is that many of Tennyson's apparently paranormal experiences are explicable in terms of temporal lobe epilepsy; and that a study of the occurrence, in the work of art, of phenomena associated with these experiences, may be useful in elucidating the workings of the aesthetic imagination. A body of knowledge relevant to paranormal experience in Tennyson's life and work, assembled from both literary and biographical sources, is applied to a Subjective Paranormal Experience Questionnaire, compiled by Professor V.M. Neppe, in order to establish the range of the poet's apparently "psychic" experiences. The information is then analysed in terms of the symptomatology of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and the problems of differential diagnosis are considered. It is shown, by means of close and comparative analyses of a number of poems, that recurring clusters of images in Tennyson's poetry may have their genesis in TLE. These images are investigated in terms of modern research into altered states of consciousness. They are found to be consistent with a "model" of the three stages of trance experience constructed by Professor A.D. Lewis-Williams to account for shamanistic rock art in the San, Coso and Upper Paleolithic contexts. My study of the relevant phenomena in the work of a nineteenth century English poet would seem to offer cross-cultural verification of the applicability of the model to a range of altered-state contexts. This study goes on to investigate some of the psychological processes which may influence the way in which pathology is manifested in the poetry of Alfred Tennyson. But, throughout the investigation, the possible effects of literary precursors and of other art forms are acknowledged. The subjective paranormal phenomena in Tennyson's poems are compared not only with some modern neuropsychiatric cases, but also with those of several nineteenth-century writers who seem to have had similar experiences . These include Dostoevsky and Edward Lear, who are known to have been epileptics, and Edgar Allan Poe. Similarity between some aspects of Tennyson's work and that of various Romantic poets, notably Shelley, is stressed; and it is tentatively suggested that it might be possible to extrapolate from my findings in this study to a more general theory of the "Romantic" imagination.
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"Rest and unrest": some rural and romantic themes in the poetry of Edward Thomas
- Authors: Lagan, Charles J
- Date: 1985-12
- Subjects: Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004770 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century
- Description: From Preface: The scope and focus of this thesis has been determined by the fact that I have tried to present a thematic, though not exhaustive, account of the poetry of Edward Thomas. (I have analysed a representative selection of the poems.) Much has been written on his life and poetry in this past decade to coincide with the centenary of his birth which was celebrated in 1978. Edna Longley, William Cooke and more recently, Andrew Motion have thrown much light on his poetry and I am indebted to them. I acknowledge especially the work of Edna Longley; her Edward Thomas: Poems and Last Poems, though it does not include all the poems, has proved to be an invaluable source because of the many extracts from Thomas's prose incorporated into her notes on his poems. Her book is also rich in suggestive insights into Thomas's poetry. Unfortunately not all of Thomas's works are available in South Africa. On a brief visit overseas I tried without success to obtain the more important books not available here. I have had to make use of anthologies of Thomas's prose where a particular text was not available, for example, In Pursuit of Spring and The South Country. I thank Ms Yolisa Soul who through the Inter Library Loan services of the University of Fort Hare managed to obtain for me a substantial number of Thomas's prose works.
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- Authors: Lagan, Charles J
- Date: 1985-12
- Subjects: Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004770 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 , Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century
- Description: From Preface: The scope and focus of this thesis has been determined by the fact that I have tried to present a thematic, though not exhaustive, account of the poetry of Edward Thomas. (I have analysed a representative selection of the poems.) Much has been written on his life and poetry in this past decade to coincide with the centenary of his birth which was celebrated in 1978. Edna Longley, William Cooke and more recently, Andrew Motion have thrown much light on his poetry and I am indebted to them. I acknowledge especially the work of Edna Longley; her Edward Thomas: Poems and Last Poems, though it does not include all the poems, has proved to be an invaluable source because of the many extracts from Thomas's prose incorporated into her notes on his poems. Her book is also rich in suggestive insights into Thomas's poetry. Unfortunately not all of Thomas's works are available in South Africa. On a brief visit overseas I tried without success to obtain the more important books not available here. I have had to make use of anthologies of Thomas's prose where a particular text was not available, for example, In Pursuit of Spring and The South Country. I thank Ms Yolisa Soul who through the Inter Library Loan services of the University of Fort Hare managed to obtain for me a substantial number of Thomas's prose works.
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The nature and function of setting in Jane Austen's novels
- Kelly, Patricia Marguerite Wyndham
- Authors: Kelly, Patricia Marguerite Wyndham
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 , English fiction , Eighteenth century , Novel , Setting , Northanger Abbey , Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park , Emma
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2172 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001823
- Description: This study examines the settings in Jane Austen's six novels. Chapter I introduces the topic generally, and refers briefly to Jane Austen's aims and methods of creating her settings. Short accounts are given of the emphasis put on setting in the criticism of Jane Austen's work; of the chronology of the novels; and of the use made of this aspect of the novel in eighteenth-century predecessors. Chapter II deals with the treatment of place in Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. The consideration of five novels together makes it possible to generalize about aspects of place common to all , and to discuss particulars peculiar to individual novels without, I hope, excessive repetition. The chapter may be thought disproportionately long, but this aspect of setting is most prominent and important in the delineation of character. Chapter III discusses the handling of spatial detail and time in these five novels. Chapter IV offers a fuller analysis of what is the chief concern of this thesis, the nature and function of setting, in respect of the single novel Persuasion, and attempts to draw together into a coherent whole some of the points made in Chapters II and III. Persuasion separates conveniently from the other works, not only because it was written after them, but more importantly because in it there is a new development in Jane Austen's use of setting. Some critics, notably E.M. Forster and B.C. Southam, have found startlingly new qualities in the setting of Sanditon, and, certainly, the most striking feature of the fragment is the treatment of place. But Jane Austen left off writing Sanditon in March 1817 because of illness, and the twelve chapters make up too small and unfinished a piece to be considered in the same way as the other novels. The Watsons, too, except for some references to it in Chapter I, does not come within the scope of this dissertation. Another introductory point needs to be made briefly. Where it is necessary, the distinction between Jane Austen and the omniscient narrator is observed, but generally, partly because it is clear that Jane Austen's values are close to those of the narrator, and partly because it is convenient, traditional and sensible to do so, the name "Jane Austen" is used to refer both to the actual person and to the narrator of the novels.
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- Authors: Kelly, Patricia Marguerite Wyndham
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 , English fiction , Eighteenth century , Novel , Setting , Northanger Abbey , Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park , Emma
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2172 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001823
- Description: This study examines the settings in Jane Austen's six novels. Chapter I introduces the topic generally, and refers briefly to Jane Austen's aims and methods of creating her settings. Short accounts are given of the emphasis put on setting in the criticism of Jane Austen's work; of the chronology of the novels; and of the use made of this aspect of the novel in eighteenth-century predecessors. Chapter II deals with the treatment of place in Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. The consideration of five novels together makes it possible to generalize about aspects of place common to all , and to discuss particulars peculiar to individual novels without, I hope, excessive repetition. The chapter may be thought disproportionately long, but this aspect of setting is most prominent and important in the delineation of character. Chapter III discusses the handling of spatial detail and time in these five novels. Chapter IV offers a fuller analysis of what is the chief concern of this thesis, the nature and function of setting, in respect of the single novel Persuasion, and attempts to draw together into a coherent whole some of the points made in Chapters II and III. Persuasion separates conveniently from the other works, not only because it was written after them, but more importantly because in it there is a new development in Jane Austen's use of setting. Some critics, notably E.M. Forster and B.C. Southam, have found startlingly new qualities in the setting of Sanditon, and, certainly, the most striking feature of the fragment is the treatment of place. But Jane Austen left off writing Sanditon in March 1817 because of illness, and the twelve chapters make up too small and unfinished a piece to be considered in the same way as the other novels. The Watsons, too, except for some references to it in Chapter I, does not come within the scope of this dissertation. Another introductory point needs to be made briefly. Where it is necessary, the distinction between Jane Austen and the omniscient narrator is observed, but generally, partly because it is clear that Jane Austen's values are close to those of the narrator, and partly because it is convenient, traditional and sensible to do so, the name "Jane Austen" is used to refer both to the actual person and to the narrator of the novels.
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Aspects of imagery, syntax and metrics in the poetry of George Herbert
- Authors: Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Herbert, George, 1593-1633 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2294 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011613 , Herbert, George, 1593-1633 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Description: I intend In this thesis to examine some central features of George Herbert's art - aspects of his imagery syntax and metrics. These topics have been chosen because they encompass large areas of his poetic practice, ramifying as they do into questions of theme, tone and structure. Even a partial. survey of Herbert' s imagery, such as the one I attempt to offer, should enable the reader to judge the range of experience that Herbert brings to bear upon a comparatively circumscribed number of themes, (The "Affliction " poems, for example, are wonderfully diverse, although they have a common thematic centre). A brief examination of the traditions within which Herbert's manipulation of imagery falls should allow one also to judge his resourcefulness, especially in the composites of emblem and symbol he devises on occasion; which in the concluding analyses I attempt to show the structural significance of image patterns in representative poems from The Temple. Thus Chapter I falls into three sections: a brief discussion of emblematic and symbolic traditions together with Herbert 's place in relation to them, a deliberately selective glance over some images (a full examination is far beyond the scope of this thesis), and finally some close analyses of poems in the course of which I try to show the imagery operating as a structural and coordinating device. In Chapter II, I move on to the closely related area of syntax, examining Herbert's formulation of his material, and finding - amongst other things - that there is evidence of "grammatical" imagery where the disposition of a sentence provides a concrete embodiment of the theme. This interrelationship of imagery and syntax (and of imagery and metrics) is a corollory of poetry's organic nature, and in order to stress the mutual collaboration of these features, I have subjected a single poem, "The Flower" to an analysis from three different angles, assuming that each approach will further illuminate the others. All the lyrics would yield riches if treated in this way but my limits of space have naturally precluded so elaborate an undertaking. Even In the analyses of poems that are treated only once, I have been at pains to allow in a glimmering of topics other than that in hand, so as to enlarge the scope of my examination. Although the material in Chapter II is designed to highlight the structural, tonal and thematic effects of syntax in turn, such divisions remain theoretical rather than actual, for they combine almost indivorcibly into a complex whole. Chapter III is patterned like Chapter I in that it moves from a general survey of Herbert's metrics, his rhyme and his stanzaic design, to further close analyses of his metrical procedures in particular lyrics. Both here and in the preceding chapters I have undertaken to look at Herbert's work in close detail, because, as I have already suggested, his is an art of compression, of telescoping a whole range of meanings into the neatest and most compact shape. Given the differences in mode and intention, his poetry often puts one in mind of Jane Austen's fiction - at least in the profundity it achieves within a consciously limited scale and a critical magnifying glass seems to me to be the most apposite aid for such a study as I have undertaken.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Herbert, George, 1593-1633 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2294 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011613 , Herbert, George, 1593-1633 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Description: I intend In this thesis to examine some central features of George Herbert's art - aspects of his imagery syntax and metrics. These topics have been chosen because they encompass large areas of his poetic practice, ramifying as they do into questions of theme, tone and structure. Even a partial. survey of Herbert' s imagery, such as the one I attempt to offer, should enable the reader to judge the range of experience that Herbert brings to bear upon a comparatively circumscribed number of themes, (The "Affliction " poems, for example, are wonderfully diverse, although they have a common thematic centre). A brief examination of the traditions within which Herbert's manipulation of imagery falls should allow one also to judge his resourcefulness, especially in the composites of emblem and symbol he devises on occasion; which in the concluding analyses I attempt to show the structural significance of image patterns in representative poems from The Temple. Thus Chapter I falls into three sections: a brief discussion of emblematic and symbolic traditions together with Herbert 's place in relation to them, a deliberately selective glance over some images (a full examination is far beyond the scope of this thesis), and finally some close analyses of poems in the course of which I try to show the imagery operating as a structural and coordinating device. In Chapter II, I move on to the closely related area of syntax, examining Herbert's formulation of his material, and finding - amongst other things - that there is evidence of "grammatical" imagery where the disposition of a sentence provides a concrete embodiment of the theme. This interrelationship of imagery and syntax (and of imagery and metrics) is a corollory of poetry's organic nature, and in order to stress the mutual collaboration of these features, I have subjected a single poem, "The Flower" to an analysis from three different angles, assuming that each approach will further illuminate the others. All the lyrics would yield riches if treated in this way but my limits of space have naturally precluded so elaborate an undertaking. Even In the analyses of poems that are treated only once, I have been at pains to allow in a glimmering of topics other than that in hand, so as to enlarge the scope of my examination. Although the material in Chapter II is designed to highlight the structural, tonal and thematic effects of syntax in turn, such divisions remain theoretical rather than actual, for they combine almost indivorcibly into a complex whole. Chapter III is patterned like Chapter I in that it moves from a general survey of Herbert's metrics, his rhyme and his stanzaic design, to further close analyses of his metrical procedures in particular lyrics. Both here and in the preceding chapters I have undertaken to look at Herbert's work in close detail, because, as I have already suggested, his is an art of compression, of telescoping a whole range of meanings into the neatest and most compact shape. Given the differences in mode and intention, his poetry often puts one in mind of Jane Austen's fiction - at least in the profundity it achieves within a consciously limited scale and a critical magnifying glass seems to me to be the most apposite aid for such a study as I have undertaken.
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Poetic situation in the poetry of John Crowe Ransom
- Authors: Driver, Dorothy
- Date: 1975
- Subjects: Ransom, John Crowe,1888-1974 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2292 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011459 , Ransom, John Crowe,1888-1974 -- Criticism and interpretation
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- Authors: Driver, Dorothy
- Date: 1975
- Subjects: Ransom, John Crowe,1888-1974 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2292 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011459 , Ransom, John Crowe,1888-1974 -- Criticism and interpretation
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A structural investigation of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield with special reference to the idea of the true and false self
- Authors: Geldenhuys, M F
- Date: 1974
- Subjects: Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923 -- Criticism and interpretation , Short stories , Self in literatur
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2296 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011969
- Description: A survey of the available literature on Katherine Mansfield has shown that, in the five decades which have elapsed since the author's death, critical interest has gradually, but significantly, altered its direction. Despite the workmanlike assessments of such critics as David Daiches in Britain and Andre Maurois in France, and the recognition of her mastery of the short story form by such fellow practitioners of the art as H.E. Bates and Elizabeth Bowen, the mainstream of criticism tended, in the first decades after the author's death, to centre less upon the characteristics of the work itself than upon a cult- like fascination, initiated, perhaps, by the perceptive but over-interested pen of Middleton Murry. Only more recently has this tendency been superseded by a more rigorous scrutiny of the stories themselves; thus the excellence of the author 's technique has now become a major concern. Recent recognition has been accorded, too, to the fact that the stories were in the vanguard of their time with regard to the choice of, as well as the treatment of, theme. Intro. p. 1-2.
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- Authors: Geldenhuys, M F
- Date: 1974
- Subjects: Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923 -- Criticism and interpretation , Short stories , Self in literatur
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2296 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011969
- Description: A survey of the available literature on Katherine Mansfield has shown that, in the five decades which have elapsed since the author's death, critical interest has gradually, but significantly, altered its direction. Despite the workmanlike assessments of such critics as David Daiches in Britain and Andre Maurois in France, and the recognition of her mastery of the short story form by such fellow practitioners of the art as H.E. Bates and Elizabeth Bowen, the mainstream of criticism tended, in the first decades after the author's death, to centre less upon the characteristics of the work itself than upon a cult- like fascination, initiated, perhaps, by the perceptive but over-interested pen of Middleton Murry. Only more recently has this tendency been superseded by a more rigorous scrutiny of the stories themselves; thus the excellence of the author 's technique has now become a major concern. Recent recognition has been accorded, too, to the fact that the stories were in the vanguard of their time with regard to the choice of, as well as the treatment of, theme. Intro. p. 1-2.
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