Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis focused on the animal themes while attempting to make a comprehensive analysis of such themes as they were portrayed in the Epodes of Horace. A close analysis of each poem that contains animals was made. The aim of such an analysis was twofold, firstly to arrive at a possible interpretation of said themes in each specific poem; secondly to indicate how Horace used these animal themes to enhance the meaning of the Epodes. To support this second aim the various animal themes were arranged according to a list of five functions associated with the themes, namely invective, irony and humour, exempla, metaphor and colouring or setting. Finally the investigation aimed at achieving not only a better understanding of the animal themes per se but also an enhanced appreciation of the entire collection. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die diere temas is die fokuspunt van hierdie tesis terwyl daar gepoog word om ‘n omvattende ontleding van die temas soos uitgebeeld deur die Epodes van Horatius, uit te voer. ‘n Deeglike ontleding van die diere temas soos gevind in die verskillende gedigte, is gemaak. Die doel van hierdie ontledings was tweeledig, eerstens om die moontlike interpretasie van die temas vir elke spesifieke gedig te verstaan; en tweedens om aan te dui hoe Horatius die diere temas aangewend het om die Epodes ruimer uit te beeld. Ter ondersteuning van die tweede doel is die verskillende diere temas volgens ‘n lys van vyf funksies wat met die temas vereenselwig kan word, ge-orden naamlik oordrewe kritiek, ironie, humor, exempla, metafoor en voorkoms of aanbieding. Ten slotte poog die ondersoek om nie net ‘n beter begrip van die diere temas te bevorder nie maar ook om waardering vir die totale versameling van die gedigte te bevorder.

This dissertation analyzes the function of animal speakers in political poetry by William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer, and John Gower, and it claims that late fourteenth-century poets describe the marginalized voices of emerging politicians by using animal expressions and noises. These writers invent a playful yet earnest poetics of acknowledgment in comparing politicians’ calls to animal cries. In unveiling novel interpretations of Langland’s mouse, Chaucer’s goose, and Gower’s jay, I argue that the speeches of animals contribute to significant argumentative strains within several late fourteenth-century poems, which remain obscure if the reader ignores the signal contribution of the animal. Finally, I study the use of animal speech in the Lancastrian poem, Richard the Redeless, to understand the ways in which the anti-Ricardian regime appropriated this malleable animal imagery to pursue its own political agenda.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-250). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

It occured to me that scholars who undertake to explore praises in Zulu have centred much analysis on praises of human beings and very little on those of domestic animals. Domestic animals are very close environmental company to any Black person in South Africa, especially to those who reside in farming areas. This study demonstrates that the domestic animal merits praise because it constitutes a kind of relative and colleague to a Black person. The first chapter gives a general layout of those to follow. What one has to note in the first chapter is the assessment of the extent to which scholars have made studies towards assessing praises of domestic animals. To be more precise, about six books have been identified containing some gleanings on the praises of domestic animals . This scarcity of documented sources for these praises together with the fact that praises of domestic animals are still mainly part of oral tradition constitute the main reason prompting this study. Chapter Two analyses hopefully in depth the social aspect of praises of domestic animals. We deduce from the numerous facts emerging from the inter-relationship between owner and animal that the main reason for the existence of the praises in question, is to forge links that bind poet and animal together. Aspects discussed in Chapter Two are, among others, the purpose of praising which examines the effect of praises on both the animals themselves and the community at large. The chapter also looks at the various poets in this field, the occasions during which domestic animals are praised, and the kind of audience anticipated when praising these animals. Though almost all the poets in this regard are wholly nonliterate, the praises they compose are nevertheless rich in literary constructions. They decorate the praises with all sorts of poetic expressions. One may even imagine that the praises of domestic animals were composed by modern learned poet who composed them by transcription and had all the skills to adopt the most impressive literary forms. Chapter Four sums up the role of praises of domestic animals on society as well as the literary richness that the praises possess. On the other hand this chapter Four is also to be taken as the summary and distillation of the previous ones. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1992.

The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the representation of specific types of animals as they occurred in Homer and archaic Attic black figure vase painting with a view to understanding bow they were most likely perceived in antiquity. This involved determining the underlying concepts around which each animal was constructed by comparing and contrasting the imagery presented in the Homeric works and archaic Attic black figure vase painting. The primary objective was to suspend modern and westernized conceptions and to attempt to approach the animal as from an ancient perspective. The Homeric works were chosen as representative of the literary evidence since these poems offer the most complete, oldest extant literature and are the result of a dynamic and continuous oral tradition. Similarly, archaic Attic black figure vase painting was considered the most suitable corpus of artistic evidence since the 6th century BC was a time when the artists actively engaged with and manipulated their themes and subject matter within an established tradition; this artistic fabric presents a parallel with the Homeric evidence. As a result of this investigation, clear and discrete concepts and images were determined for each animal. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This thesis examines the way the absence of moral consideration of the animal in Christian doctrine is evident in Middle English literature. A fundamental difference between the theology and literature of the medieval period is literature's capacity to present and theorise positions that cannot, for various reasons, be theorised in the official discourses provided by commentators and theologians. Patterns of excluding the animal from moral consideration by Christianity are instigated with the rejection of the ethics of late Neoplatonism. Highlighted by Neoplatonists, and evident in the stylistic differences in reading scripture and philosophy, is an early Christian ideological predisposition toward purely humanocentric concerns. The disparity between a definite Hellenic ethic of the animal and its absence in Christian thought is most evident in the contrast between an outward looking Neoplatonic understanding of creation, and the closed matrix of scholastic interpretative thought. Influential textual representations of the universe require that creation is interpreted through a fideistically enclosed system of signs. The individual must have faith before approaching knowledge. The animal is placed into a system dominated by the primacy of faith in God, which paradoxically produces the predetermined answers supplied by Christian doctrine and selective scriptural and doctrinal suppositions. In literary texts, the animal provides an obvious method of Christian debate. Contemporary theological values, such as the doctrinal commonplace of comparing man with animal in the corporeal context highlights the uncomfortable similarity to, yet prescribes that man aspire to distance himself from, the animal. The primacy of man and the importance of his salvation, is a doctrine which countermands the theocentric basis of Christian theology, in which God is understood as a presence in all his creation. Such conflicting perspectives result in animals in medieval literature being used to test theological and philosophical parameters, illustrating the inadequacy of sharp theological boundaries, and demonstrating the ability of literary expression to escape that which has already been enclosed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 1999. / Examines the work of five 18th century poets: Mary Collier, Mary Leopor, Elizabeth Hands, Ann Cromartie Yearsley and Janet Little--Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-228). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-179). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Inaug.-diss.--Berlin. / Lebenslauf. "Bücherangabe": p. [6]-[8].