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Drummer Hodge : the poetry of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)

- Van Wyk Smith, Malvern

  • Authors: Van Wyk Smith, Malvern
  • Date: 1976
  • Subjects: War poetry -- History and criticism South African War, 1899-1902 -- Literature and the war South African War, 1899-1902 -- Art and the war
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2252 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003919
  • Description: From Preface: This is not a history of the Boer War; nor is it an exclusively literary study of the poetry of that war. If the work that follows has to be defined generically at all, it may be called an exercise in cultural history. It attempts to assess the impact of a particular war on the literary culture, especially the poetry, of both the participants and the observers, whether in South Africa, in Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world, or in Europe. An assumption made throughout this study is that war poetry is not only verse written by men who are or have been under fire. Just as 'War poetry is not to be confused with political, polemical, or patriotic verse, although it can contain elements of all of these, so it is also the work of observers at home as much as that of soldiers at the front. It follows that I have not allowed myself the academic luxury of selecting, on the basis of literary merit only, a handful of outstanding war poems for rigorous analysis and discussion. "Doggerel can express the heart" wrote one of these late-Victorian soldierly versifiers, and I have roamed widely in the attempt to assemble the material which, I believe, records the full range of the impact that the Boer War made not only on Briton and Boer, but on the worId at large. A major thesis of this study is that the Boer War marked the clear emergence of the kind of war poetry which we have come to associate almost exclusively with the First World War. Poems in the style and spirit of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were written in profusion, but the work which serves as this study's masthead, Hardy's "Drummer Hodge," clearly has --like many of its contemporaries-- more in common with Owen's verse than with Tennyson's. The reasons for the appearance of such poetry are discussed in Chapter 1; the rest of the book provides the evidence of it.
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  • Date Issued: 1976

Poetic situation in the poetry of John Crowe Ransom

- Driver, Dorothy

A share in pain and passion: the women of Synge's plays

- Finn, Stephen Michael

A structural investigation of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield with special reference to the idea of the true and false self

- Geldenhuys, M F

  • 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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  • Date Issued: 1974

Some aspects of John Clare's pastoral vision as reflected in the The Shepherd's Calendar, sonnets and other selected poems

- Pyott, Maureen

  • Authors: Pyott, Maureen
  • Date: 1974
  • Subjects: Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599 -- Criticism and interpretation , Clare, John, 1793-1864 -- Criticism and interpretation , Pastoral poetry, English , Country life -- England -- Poetry , Nature -- Poetry
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2281 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007580 , Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599 -- Criticism and interpretation , Clare, John, 1793-1864 -- Criticism and interpretation , Pastoral poetry, English , Country life -- England -- Poetry , Nature -- Poetry
  • Description: From Preface: In this thesis it is proposed to examine the pastoral vision, symbolized by Eden, which permeates Clare's poetry, as it is reflected in The Shepherd's Calendar, the sonnets (certain of which will be analysed in detail) and a group of lyrics. This pastoral vision, while including time and space, transcends them in such a way that Eternity becomes an important concept in Clare's pastoral poems. The final chapter of this thesis will, therefore, concentrate on this aspect of Clare's pastoral vision, not by attempting to define Clare's understanding of Eternity, but by illustrating it in four of his lyrics. Because of the lack of a full and reliable text of the complete works of John Clare and the inability of the present writer to establish for certain the chronological order of his poems, there will be no attempt in this thesis to show a development in Clare's poetry. Nor will there be an attempt to evaluate in the light of Clare's "madness" those poems known to have been written while he was in a mental asylum - a non-literary study requiring knowledge associated with the discipline of psychology; and the present writer concurs in the opinion that "it is the continuity of Clare's life and ways of thought and feeling which claims one's attention, rather than the disruptions of insanity".
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  • Date Issued: 1974

The place of man and nature in the shorter poems of William Wordsworth, 1793-1806

- Mirkin, Barry

  • Authors: Mirkin, Barry
  • Date: 1974
  • Subjects: Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2285 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007656 , Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Description: Introduction: This present essay is an analysis of the place of man and nature in [Wordsworth's] poetry ... I have been concerned essentially with trying to discover how Wordsworth used his two most prominent poetic subjects. I have attempted to trace Wordsworth's development from the poet of nature, to the poet of man, and finally to the poet of man and nature. What I have hoped would emerge from this essay is an understanding of Wordsworth's relationship with nature and his attitude to it in the poems. I have attempted to stress that man and humanity were not always important to Wordsworth as a poet, and that their importance does not eventually equal that of nature. For by 1807 man, the mind of man and humanity in general are very much more important and much more vital as poetic subjects than is nature. I have tried to show that Wordsworth was at different times a poet of landscape descriptions, a poet interested only in man and humanity, and finally a poet interested in man within nature.
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  • Date Issued: 1974

A study of the tragedy of Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

- Knox, Catherine Mary

  • Authors: Knox, Catherine Mary
  • Date: 1973
  • Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Coriolanus , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2304 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012642 , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Coriolanus , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Description: It would be difficult to prove conclusively that Shakespeare was not invited or requested to write a play based on the popular story of Coriolanus. J.M. Robertson concretises this possibility with an intriguing thesis that the play was in fact rewritten from an original by Chapman. The story, he argues, would have had a far greater appeal to Chapman with his consuming interest in the heroic age of Classical antiquity, than to Shakespeare. Further, it is likely, he says, that Chapman was familiar with Alexandre Hardy 's Coriolan which, it is generally accepted, Shakespeare was not, hence the startling similarities in some of the two plays' deviations from their common source. This is hardly a more satisfactory explanation than the kind of airy alternative that disposes of the mystery by saying the source material is such that it would invite any dramatist to make similar changes. Chap. 1
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  • Date Issued: 1973

Coleridge on drama

- Wagstaff, Brian John

  • Authors: Wagstaff, Brian John
  • Date: 1973
  • Subjects: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834 -- Dramatic works , Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834 -- Criticism and interpretation , English drama -- 18th century -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2276 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007255 , Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834 -- Dramatic works , Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834 -- Criticism and interpretation , English drama -- 18th century -- History and criticism
  • Description: From Introduction: In the Preface to his book The idea of Coleridge's Criticism, Richard Harter Fogle states: There is... I am confident, a need for such a study as I here introduce; a study of Coleridge's criticism in itself, tentatively accepting the metaphysical assumptions on which it is based and focusing upon its central principles and inner relationship; endeavouring without direct regard for its external connections to the past and the present to see it as a whole, yet at the same time anxiously regardful of its permanent significance and its bearing upon practical criticism. These are the principles on which I have based this thesis, applied more particularly to Coleridge's criticism of drama.
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  • Date Issued: 1973

Critical studies of John Milton, T.S. Eliot and other writers

- Peter, John Desmond

Dr Johnson's critical assumptions in the preface to Shakespeare: an essay in descriptive method

- Gouws, John Stephen

  • Authors: Gouws, John Stephen
  • Date: 1973
  • Subjects: Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2298 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012073 , Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Description: "His criticism may be considered as general or occasional. In his general precepts, which depend upon the nature of things and the structure of the human mind, he may doubtlessly be safely recommended to the confidence of the reader: but his occasional and particular positions were sometimes interested, sometimes negligent, and sometimes capricious." With certain qualifications, it would be the opinion of those critics who share a great admiration of the man that this statement might well have been made of Johnson himself. There are those, however, whose esteem of Johnson is perhaps not so great. One thus finds Alan Tate writing: "One is constantly impressed by Johnson's consistency of point of view, over the long pull of his self-dedication to letters. There is seldom either consistency or precision in his particular judgements and definitions -- a defect that perhaps accounts negatively for his greatness as a critic: the perpetual reformulation of his standards, with his eye on the poetry, has done much to keep eighteenth century verse alive in our day. His theories (if his ideas ever reach that level of logical abstraction) are perhaps too simple for our taste and too improvised; but his reading is disciplined and acute." Tate is eager to perpetuate the notion of Johnson as a critic with a massive common sense and little more, an imputation which Johnson would not only resent, but dismiss as short-sighted. Intro., p. 1.
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  • Date Issued: 1973

The lyric vision of W. H. Davies: pastoral, the unintelligible universe, community

- Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur

  • Authors: Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
  • Date: 1973
  • Subjects: Davies, W. H. (William Henry), 1871-1940 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century , Poets, English -- 20th century -- Biography
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2280 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007579 , Davies, W. H. (William Henry), 1871-1940 -- Criticism and interpretation , English poetry -- 20th century , Poets, English -- 20th century -- Biography
  • Description: From Introductory note: The Complete Poems of W.H. Davies (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963; rev. 1968) has been used throughout this study. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated, all citations of poem numbers and pagination refer to this text. Critical literature on the work of W.H. Davies is restricted in quantity and limited in scope. There are few comprehensive assessments of Davies as poet, autobiographer, novelist, or raconteur. Apart from such sources as Richard J. Stonesifer's full-length critical biography (1963), Lawrence Hockey's biographical monograph (1971), and Thomas Moult's anecdotal and historical appreciation (1934), critical material must be drawn from contemporary reviews, isolated articles in magazines such as The Catholic World and Fortnightly Review, and specific chapters in surveys of the poetry of the early twentieth century, although Davies is frequently alluded to passim in literary histories which deal with this period. Many of these studies favour biographical exposition and evaluation rather than descriptive analysis and discursive interpretation. A detailed chronology of Davies's works is included in Stonesifer's discussion. This thesis is not attempting to trace a line of development for two reasons. First, the Complete Poems gives no indication of date of composition or publication of particular poems, and the present writer has access only to the dates of publication of individual volumes as external evidence of a chronology, internal evidence being confined to such infrequent references as "the birds of steel" in Poem no. 236, p. 260. Secondly, the lyrics themselves do not, on the whole, evince much stylistic and thematic development, and the concern of this study is with recurrent themes and techniques dispersed throughout the oeuvre.
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  • Date Issued: 1973

The voice of protest in English poetry : with special reference to poets of the first three decades of the twentieth century

- Verschoor, Edith N E

  • Authors: Verschoor, Edith N E
  • Date: 1973
  • Subjects: Protest poetry, English -- History and criticism , English poetry -- History and criticism , English poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2277 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007270
  • Description: Poetry, like every other form of art, reflects the values of the artist himself as well as the values of the age in which he lives. "I would say that the poet may write about anything provided that the thing matters to him to start with, for then it will bring with it into the poem the intellectual or moral significance which it has for him in life". (Louis MacNeice). This thesis sets out to uncover some of the things which, in the long pageant of English poetry, have "mattered" to poets to such an extent that they have felt compelled to voice their protest against any violation of such things perceived by them in life around them. The basic study has been a search for the different kinds of values and codes of conduct, in social, political and moral spheres, which have been unacceptable to some of the major poets in English, and to examine particularly the manner and the tone of voice in which each one has expressed his disapproval. "Poetry was the mental rattle that awakened the attention of intellect in the infancy of civil society." (T.L.Peacock). English poets who have protested against whatever they regarded as worthy of protest have continued up to the maturity of civil society to be rattles (some soft and mellow, others loud and harsh), to awaken both the intellect and the conscience of their readers.
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  • Date Issued: 1973

A survey of South African English verse printed in Cape periodicals and newspapers from 1824-1851

- Hammond, Carol Anne

  • Authors: Hammond, Carol Anne
  • Date: 1972
  • Subjects: Mass media and literature -- 19th century , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism -- 19th century
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2301 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012146 , Mass media and literature -- 19th century , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism -- 19th century
  • Description: An interest in colonial literature is relatively new in the study of English. English-speaking South Africans especially, cut off as they are, a minority group in a new republic, have begun to re-assess their identity through a study of their existing literature. When asked what South African verse there was beside his own, Kipling remarked, "As to South African verse, it's a case of there's Pringle, and there's Pringle, and after that one must hunt the local papers." This thesis is the result of such a hunt - the hunt being limited to the years 1824 to 1851 - and on occasion, the writer has been tempted to conclude rather unfairly, "And there is only Pringle." It cannot be claimed that every poem ever printed during the period under review has been collected and examined, for the reason that many volumes of old newspapers are no longer available. Nevertheless, it has been possible to make a representative selection, which could provide the raw material for several theses to come. A detailed study of critical criteria prevalent at the Cape during this period, or public taste and the influence especially of the lesser British poets are some of the topics which might repay study. Intro., p. 1.
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  • Date Issued: 1972

The great bonds : nature, law and grace in "King Lear", "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Macbeth"

- Simpson, Mary-Helen Dawn

  • Authors: Simpson, Mary-Helen Dawn
  • Date: 1972
  • Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Macbeth , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Antony and Cleopatra , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. King Lear
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2315 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013229
  • Description: By looking at the world inhabited by those characters who partake of the dramatic action in King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth, and the relationship of these characters to their world, or universe, it is hoped to establish how certain factors affect the genesis, development and resolution of the tragedies in which they play their roles. This will be done by an examination of what Shakespeare sometimes called the "Bonds," which, as we shall see, derive from the mediaeval concepts of Nature, Law and Grace that were current in his time. This thesis does not claim to offer a complete or exclusive solution to the problem of the critical interpretation of these three tragedies: one of the dangers of Literary criticism has always appeared to the writer to be that of maintaining that the approach adopted is the only one and of attempting to demonstrate that the theory coincides at every point with the work - admitting of no inconsistencies or alternatives, and thereby making nonsense of a theory that does have considerable validiity. Similarly, it is with considerable hesitation that names have been given to the various Bonds discussed. Once one names them and applies a certain range of definitions to these names, it is difficult to stress that the names and definitions are not static or rigid. The Bond of Nature, for example, although it has a central core of meaning common to all three tragedies, is not treated from the same viewpoint in King Lear as it is in Antony and Cleopatra or Macbeth. Three considerations have prompted the writer to select this subject for the theme of a thesis. Firstly , the hypothesis that some failure, violation, misunderstanding or inadequacy of the Bonds lies at the heart of the tragic movement does appear to augment existing concepts of the nature of tragedy and help us better to understand the Why? How? and When? of the tragic process. Secondly, the concept of the principles of Nature, Law and Grace as determinants of the Bonds, which occurs so frequently in Elizabethan thinking, does seem to offer us a unified approach to their treatment of man and the world he inhabits at any particular point in history. By quoting from a wide range of sources dealing with this subject, the writer hopes to demonstrate that such a concept did exist, and that it was relatively consistent and generally accepted by Shakespeare and many of his contemporaries. It is, moreover, a system of thought that can embrace within its ambit such diverse materials as the great chain of being; the microcosm and the macrocosm; the nature of the soul; the structure of the family, the clan or the nation; the concepts of sin, damnation and life everlasting; the four elements; and the humours - and assign to these and many others a proper nature, place and function in the overall scheme. Thirdly, the writer was prompted to select this subject for a thesis because no critical writing to date appears to have dealt fully with the subject of the Bonds and their relationship to these principles of Nature, Law and Grace in Shakespearean tragedy . There have, it is true, been critics who have dealt with facets of these principles, and there have been critics who have commented on the violation, misunderstanding or inadequacy of various Bonds, but none of them seems to have dealt with the subject as a whole. Preface, p. iv-vi.
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  • Date Issued: 1972

The novelistic documentary : a study of the non-fiction novel

- Visser, N W

The novels of André Malraux : a restatement of man's tragic dilemma in contemporary terms

- Greshoff, C J

  • Authors: Greshoff, C J
  • Date: 1971
  • Subjects: Malraux, André, 1901-1976 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2299 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012092
  • Description: Writing about Eighteenth Century England, and more particularly about the age of Johnson, Trevelyan gives us an admirable definition of a classical age: It is a "classical age, that is an age of unchallenged assumptions, when the philosophers of the streets such as Dr. Johnson, have ample leisure to moralise on the human scene, in the happy belief that the state of society and the modes of thought to which they are accustomed are not mere passing aspects of an ever shifting kaleidoscope, but permanent habitations, the final outcome of reason and experience. Such an age does not aspire to progress, though it may in fact be progressing; it regards itself not as setting out but as having arrived." To apply this definition of a classical age to the protean Nineteenth Century might, at first glance, seem impossible or at least dangerous. Yet it is only when we see this century - and more particularly the period 1871-1914 - as a truly classical age, as the classical age of the Bourgeoisie, that we can understand the direction and meaning of the revolt during the Twenties and Thirties of which Malraux' work is so representative. Introduction, page 1.
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  • Date Issued: 1971

W.H. Auden: a study of his poetry and its critics, 1930-1960

- Millard, Geoffrey Charles

  • Authors: Millard, Geoffrey Charles
  • Date: 1971
  • Subjects: Auden, W. H., (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973 -- Criticism and interpretation English poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2284 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007629
  • Description: How does a poet fare nowadays at the hands of his critics? This study examines the critical reception Auden received from 1930 to 1960; through a close consideration of a selection of the poems written in this period it will be demonstrated that a considerble discrepency exists between Auden's poetic achievement and. the criticism it received. The main reason for this discrepancy is the lack of attention to individual poems in favour of sweeping surveys of a volume of poetry or the poet's total output. The core of the thesis lies here and the thesis as a whole derives from concern for a poet's reputation during his poetic career.
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  • Date Issued: 1971

A reading of Emily Dickinson

- Wilson, Ian

  • Authors: Wilson, Ian
  • Date: 1970
  • Subjects: Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2286 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007689 , Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886
  • Description: From Chapter 1: Even before the publication of The Poems of Emily Dickinson in the variorum edition by Harvard University in 1955, under the editorship of Thomas H. Johnson, there was a steadily growing interest in the work of this poet and in her position both in the sphere of American literature and in the larger field of English poetry. In 1957, The Letters of Emily Dickinson appeared, with Johnson as editor, and Theodora Ward as associate editor. With this publication critical literature received an incentive to increase and extend the exploration already undertaken.
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  • Date Issued: 1970

An experimental investigation of three developmental reading programmes

- Pienaar, P T (Peter Thomas), 1932-

  • Authors: Pienaar, P T (Peter Thomas), 1932-
  • Date: 1970
  • Subjects: Reading (Adult education) Reading comprehension Reading (Elementary)
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2283 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007614
  • Description: From Chapter one - 1.1 Genesis: My interest in increasing the efficiency of children's silent reading began in 1958 when I was teaching a Standard 5A of 24 boys and 15 girls in a two-stream Primary School in Rhodesia. the majority of children were able readers and the mean Word Reading Age was 12.7 which, in relation to an average chronological age of 12.3, yeilded an above average Reading Quotient of 103. These children needed lots of reading practice, and in addition to the usual Reading periods I resolved to set aside at least one period a week for Comprehension, as reading for meaning was then called.
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  • Date Issued: 1970

Deliberately withheld meaning : aspects of narrative technique in four novels by William Faulkner

- Walters, Paul S

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