By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ireland's identity was continually pulled between its loyalties to Catholicism and British imperialism. In response to this conflict of identity, W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory argued the need for an Irish theatre that was demonstrative of the Irish people, returning to the literary traditions to the Celtic heritage. What resulted was a questioning of religion and politics in Ireland, specifically the Catholic Church and its priests. Yeat's own drama removed the priests from the stage and replaced them with characters demonstrative of those literary traditions, establishing what he called a "new priesthood". In response to this removal, Yeat's contemporaries such as J. M. Synge and Bernard Shaw evolved his vision, creating a criticism and, ultimately, a rejection of Irish priests. In doing so, these playwrights created depictions of absent, ineffectual, and pagan priests that have endured throughout the twentieth century.

Why do we read what we read? Janice Radway examines works that were not popular in an author's time period, but now are affecting the construction of the canon. In her own words, Radway seeks to "establish [popular literature] as something other than a watered-down version of a more authentic high culture [and] to present the middlebrow positively as a culture with its own particular substance and intellectual coherence" (208). Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novels were considered "middlebrow" and were very popular in Victorian England. Along with this facet, her heroines were considered controversial because they were not portrayed as what would be labeled a "proper female" in Victorian society. The popularity of her novels, her heroines, along with facets of her personal life, keep her from being recognized as one of the foremost authors in the Victorian period.

Excerpt: It was the sixties—albeit the 1660s—a time for tricksters, rakes, subversive women and sexual energy on the stage. It was a time of fun for those with the means to partake of it. The “good old days” are, of course, always better from a distance, but writers on through the twentieth century found the Restoration an apt setting for their fictions about prostitution, political intrigue, and tragic or comic historical events, especially for the cinema.

Book Summary: Poetry Criticism assembles critical responses to the writings of the world's most renowned poets and provides supplementary biographical context and bibliographic material to guide the reader to a greater understanding of the genre and its creators. Each entry includes a set of previously published reviews, essays and other critical responses from sources that include scholarly books and journals, literary magazines, interviews, letters and diaries, carefully selected to create a representative history and cross-section of critical responses. Although poets and poetry are also covered in other titles from the Gale Literature Criticism series, Poetry Criticism offers a greater focus on understanding poetry than is possible in the broader, survey-oriented entries in those series. Clear, accessible introductory essays followed by carefully selected critical responses allow end-users to engage with a variety of scholarly views and conversations about poets and their works. Student's writing papers or class presentations, instructors preparing their syllabi, or anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the genre will find this a highly useful resource.

Excerpt: In 1859, the Edinburgh house of Wood and Company published a Sketch of the History of the Edinburgh Th eatre-Royal in honor of its fi nal performance and closing, its author lamenting that “Th is House, which has been a scene of amusement to the citizens of Edinburgh for as long as most of them have lived, has at length come to the termination of its own existence” (3).

No description available.

There are multiple ways in which language and image share one another’s aesthetic message, such as traditional ekphrasis, which uses language to describe a work of art, or notional ekphrasis, which involves literature describing something that can be considered a work of art but does not physically exist at the time the description is written. However, these two terms are not inclusive to all artworks depicting literature or literature depicting artworks. Several scenes and characters from literature have been appropriated in art and the numerous paintings of Ophelia’s death as described by Gertrude in Hamlet, specifically Millais’ Ophelia, is the focus of this project. Throughout this thesis I analyze Gertrude’s account in three sections—the landscape, the body, and the voice—and compare it to its transmutation on the canvas.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many British poets attempted to establish a universal poetic image in the European nightingale, often viewing it as a muse or contemporary artist. This use of the songster became so prevalent that it was adopted, along with other conventions, for use in the United States. Yet, despite the efforts of both British and American poets, this imperialized songbird would ultimately fail in America, as the nightingale is not indigenous to the United States. The failure of this nightingale image, I contend, is reflective of the growing need to establish a national identity in nineteenth-century American literature, separate from British convention. In this process of cultural exploration, I believe the northern mockingbird becomes the replacement for the nightingale, and is developed as a distinctly American image through the poetry of Maurice Thompson, Walt Whitman, and others, exemplifying traits of the country through its charismatic song and personality

Jane Austen's attitude toward the position of middle-class women at the end of the eighteenth century is examined in the context of her life and thought and the women characters in her six novels. Comparisons are made with the position of women today regarding marriage, work, and the goals of the women's liberation movement. Jane Austen shared with feminists a recognition of the need for self-fulfillment. Because she was a realist, she provided fulfillment for her heroines through the only vehicle that was available to most women of her time--marriage. The solution she worked out for satisfying this need in her own life was to maintain her identity as single women, a member of a family and community, while writing under the protection of anonymity. This compromise was necessary at a time when women's opportunities for meaningful work were severely limited. Because of the nature of her genius, she was able to work within the confines of society, but she was acutely aware that most women were not so fortunate. The young women in her novels ask repeatedly when men will learn to seek rational women companions rather than elegant females. he latter had been encouraged by men to subvert their intelligence, thereby weakening their integrity, a situation which Jane Austen deplored. were she alive today, she would welcome the widening opportunities for women to develop as complete human beings.

While The Merchant of Venice has long been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, it has also been one of the most controversial with Shylock being the hub of the conflict. Critics have long been arguing whether this great character is a tragic hero or a larger-than-life villain. Those opting for the first often believe the playwright guilty of anti-semitism, and those following the latter consider Shylock the embodiment of evil. Very few critics have viewed this character as three dimensional, possessing human dignity as well as a capacity for evil. The first chapter reveals the many sources for both the plot of the play and for Shylock's character. Chapter II deals with the subject of usury historically and in relationship to Shylock's character. The third chapter reveals the humanness of Shylock, his supposedly fierce dedication to his values and his relationship with the Christians. Included also in this chapter is Shakespeare's use of imagery, particularly animal imagery in the revelation of Shylock's character, and the Jew's diabolic nature. Shylock as a scapegoat in the traditionally Jewish sense is the topic of Chapter IV. The discussion of these pertinent areas of the play show that Shakespeare did not have to be antisemitic to write about an evil man who happened to be a Jew. It is shown that Shylock may be viewed consistently on three levels: the historic, the archetypal, and the literal. The point being made here is that the modern reader, particularly due to the fact that twentieth century man has perpetrated more atrocities on the Jewish people than all past centuries combined, is perhaps incapable of total objectivity where this play is concerned. We tend to view the play either offensively or defensively on an emotional level rather than intellectually and literally. This reaction is explored in the Conclusion using the philosophy of Jung and his studies of the collective unconscious.