The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of Dylan Thomas's artistic debt to William Blake. "Chapter I" of our study documents Thomas's professional interest in Blake, offering evidence that Thomas read Blake extensively and carefully. Further, evidence is presented of Thomas's admiration of Blake as a poet and his stated desire to emulate him. "Chapter II" traces Thomas’s direct borrowings from Blake in his 18 Poems as well as in a short story. Because Northrop Frye's idea of the importance of and significance of literary borrowing and literary allusion dictates the direction of much of our argument, our discussion attempts to show the significance of Thomas's borrowings; the implication is that Thomas's imagination shared certain archetypal similarities to that of Blake's. The method of investigation used throughout the thesis, then, has involved a detailed examination of the poems of both poets with the purpose in mind of indicating, where possible, the archetypal significance of the borrowing. "Chapter III" attempts to establish Thomas's direct debt to Blake for many of his images and concepts in his "Altarwise by Owl-Light" sonnet sequence. Our implication is that Thomas was directly influenced in writing the sequence by his knowledge of Blake's epics Vala and Milton. Evidence is presented, in fact, that Thomas borrowed certain of the images for his sonnets from Blake's epics. The preoccupation of both Blake and Thomas with the sinister female will aspect of love in marriage is investigated in "Chapter IV"; our argument implies that Blake derived much of his attitude toward married love from Milton, and through both Milton and Blake, Thomas inherited a somewhat similar attitude. At all times, however, our chief concern is with the poetry resulting from these underlying tensions. There emerges from our study evidence of a striking similarity in artistic vision between Blake and Thomas. Our tracing of literary archetypes (in Northrop Frye's definition) and analogues in the poems leads to the conclusion that Thomas saw the universe from a somewhat similar point of view to that of Blake. "Chapter V" compares Blake’s Jerusalem with Thomas's last poems to establish a correspondence of achieved vision. The comparison is validated, and our argument proceeds to show that, while Thomas was attempting to move in a similar visionary direction to Blake in terms of art, Blake far outstripped the Welsh poet from the point of view of achieved total vision expressed through poetry. Our conclusion follows that, while Thomas, throughout his artistic career, was influenced by Blake and borrowed from him, he found himself at a creative impasse out of which he attempted to work by turning to voice drama in the form of a dramatic and highly imaginative documentary called Under Milk Wood, and even this, his last work, is in some ways reminiscent of Blake's influence. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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This thesis examines resistance to adult ideology by child/adolescent characters in Philip Pullmans’ His Dark Materials. Drawing on terminology provided by Maria Nikolajeva (aetonormativity) and Roberta Trites (power within repression) this paper describes the development of Lyra Belacqua, the protagonist of The Golden Compass. It identifies in Pullman’s text a particular emphasis on allowing children to develop into adolescents before subjecting them to religious or secular ideologies. This thesis works with the terms Entwicklungsroman and Bildungsroman in order to illuminate and complicate the subject-positions: adolescent, child and adult. This thesis demonstrates the particular attention to qualities of adolescence and childhood in Pullman’s works, and the effect that reconstructing adolescence as an end-point for child characters has on child protagonists, by contrast to adulthood as a destination. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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Through an examination of Blake’s idea of Satan and his depiction of Satan and the rebel angels in the Paradise Lost design Satan Rousing his Legions, my thesis will demonstrate four principle findings, in addition to offering a fresh and unconventional interpretation to what is arguably Blake’s most profound depiction of Satan. One result is the demonstration that Blake maintained and developed his idea of Satan as a force of revolutionary energy and paradigm of Creative Imagination throughout his life. Secondly, I will demonstrate that Blake’s employment of, and references to, a punitive, destructive, and materialistic Satan is in fact a personification of the oppressive aspect of the Church and State. My third determination is that Blake’s vision of the Church as the oppressive and repressive tyrant Urizen did not soften as he aged but was steadfastly maintained until his death. And finally, I will establish that Blake did in fact maintain his revolutionary enthusiasm his entire life. / iv, 236 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / William Blake was a painter, poet and printmaker. The author demonstrated a large experimentation in the production of his art, developing his own method of printing and publishing. Such method made possible the creation of the so called illuminated books, support in which was published most of his composite art, which combines poetry and painting in an inseparable way. This dissertation aims to examine the states of "Innocence" and of "Experience" in the illuminated books Songs of Innocence (1789), Songs of Experience (1794) and Songs of Innocence and of Experience - Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (1794 ). Usually, the Blake's "Innocence state", in the text and in the visual compositions, is associated with idealized existence, childhood figures and fertile nature. "Experience", on the other hand, presents urban scenes or arid nature, adult images and a different perspective about life, without the characteristic idealization of "Innocence". However, although the titles of the volumes indicate which compositions would be of "Innocence" and what would be of Experience", the compositions have evidences that perhaps these states are not clearly defined or contrary, as the subtitle of the agglutinated edition indicates. Examples of it, besides adult figures on the Innocence book and childhood images on the Experience , are compositions that appear in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, depending on the copy. Considering the switchable aspect of this collection of poems and the reallocations made by Blake in the several copies of the books, it will be observed what is the elements that fundaments the states of "Innocence" and of "Experience" on the three books of Songs. / William Blake foi pintor, poeta e gravurista. O autor demonstrou grande experimentação na produção de sua arte, elaborando o seu próprio método de impressão e publicação. Tal método viabilizou a criação dos chamados livros iluminados, suporte que possibilitou unir poesia e pintura de forma indissociável. Nesta dissertação, serão analisados os estados de Inocência e de Experiência nos livros iluminados Songs of Innocence (1789), Songs of Experience (1794) e Songs of Innocence and of Experience - Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (1794). Comumente, o estado de Inocência em Blake é associado à existência idealizada, a figuras infantis e à natureza fértil, tanto nos textos quanto nas composições visuais. Experiência , por outro lado, apresentaria cenários urbanos ou de natureza árida, imagens adultas e um olhar diferenciado sobre a vida, sem a idealização característica de Inocência . Entretanto, embora os títulos dos volumes indiquem quais composições seriam sobre a Inocência e quais versariam acerca da Experiência , as composições possuem indícios de que talvez esses estados não sejam claramente delimitados ou contrários, como indica o subtítulo da edição conjunta. Exemplos disso, além de figuras adultas na parte de Inocência do livro e de presenças infantis em Experiência , são os poemas que aparecem tanto em Songs of Innocence quanto em Songs of Experience, dependendo da cópia do livro. Considerando o aspecto cambiável desse conjunto de poemas e as realocações realizadas por Blake nas diversas edições das obras, serão observados os elementos que fundamentam os estados de Inocência e de Experiência dentro dos três exemplares de Songs.