Recently, literary critics have increasingly drawn on methods of quantitative analysis to understand the readers and literature of the eighteenth century. Ironically, however, the eighteenth century is home to debates concerning the nature and usefulness of number, counting, and therefore, on some level, quantitative analysis. Eighteenth-century questions of number form an important part of the intellectual history of this period; these questions of number, in turn, hold important implications for language and the period's literature. I argue that the far-reaching influence of eighteenth-century questions of number can be seen especially well in the nature poetry of James Thomson. To explore this influence, I first discuss the problems of number presented to eighteenth-century mathematicians and philosophers by George Berkeley's critique of the infinitesimal calculus popularized by Isaac Newton. I then further explain the problems of number for eighteenth-century thinkers by drawing on philosopher Alain Badiou's theorization of the collapse of number in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This background brings to light connections between eighteenth-century questions of number and similar questions philosophers, such as John Locke, asked of language. These connections set the stage to discuss number in Thomson's The Seasons. Because of Thomson's rather unique exposure to the Newtonian tradition through his Edinburgh education, he was introduced not only to Newton's more popular discoveries, but also the mathematical and philosophical debates that swirled around Newton's methods. Coming out of this environment, Thomson's The Seasons display a particular kind of interest in number at its limits—infinity and zero. This paper will explore Thomson's tropological expressions of infinity and zero in the poem and note how these tropes replicate the logic of the sublime. Ultimately number at its limits in Thomson suggests the problems of expression, and, reading against traditional interpretations of Thomson, the limits of the Enlightenment project.

The Making of an Avant-Garde Composition: Intersections of Composition Theory and Innovative Poetics, explores how current discussions in the field of Composition and Rhetoric intersect with the theories and practices of select members of the avant-garde poetry community, focusing on the issues of genre, identity, and language. It examines each of these issues by juxtaposing discussions of leading Composition and Rhetoric scholars with creative and critical work of avant-garde poets, identifying common concerns, and describing diverse approaches to creating innovative writing practices. It demonstrates the connections between Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's multilingual text, DICTEE, and recent scholarship by Min-Zhan Lu and A. Suresh Canagarajah on multilingual student writers in order to argue for more discussion of language politics and linguistic awareness in the composition classroom. It also outlines the connections between Harryette Mullen's creative and critical work and scholarship by Donna LeCourt and Roz Ivanic on writer identity to explore new approaches to interpreting and responding to student texts. Finally, it reads Susan Howe's The Midnight in conversation with leading genre theorists such as Amy Devitt and compositionists such as Robert Davis and Mark Shadle who argue for assigning multigenre papers. / English

This thesis investigates the representation of social reality that can be reflected by folk belief and the supernatural within mythic worlds created in epic poetry. Although the society, itself, can be regarded as the creator of its own myth, it may still be subjected to the impact of the synthesized mythic world, and this study seeks to address the roles of the society in the shaping of such mythic worlds. The research is inspired by an innovative approach, using James Macpherson’s Ossian (1760-63) and Elias Lönnrot’s Kalevala (1835-49) as epic models that benefit from mythical traditions. Through the examination and the comparison of these two epic collections, both of which seem to have a close association with social reformation and restructuring, the study explores the universality of human nature. It also reveals the extent mythic worlds may exhibit the ‘realities’ of their source-societies and how mythical tradition may become a reflection of a society’s transforming past modes of thinking. Moreover, the study devotes special attention to the influence of mythic heritage on national awakening and the construction of national identities. The research treats Macpherson as the re-inventor of Gaelic oral tradition with his Ossian, where he portrays a Romanticized image of a gallant past according to the norms of the eighteenth century. Therefore, the mythic world of the epic can be seen as a combination of an ancient heroic past and the aesthetic refinement of a polished age. In this framework, as the product of a society going through a transition period from traditional to modern, Ossian seems to reflect the society’s changing world-view, both celebrating, and mourning for a culture on the verge of extinction. Focusing on the Kalevala, the study analyzes its portrayal of Finnish folk belief. The Kalevala, like Ossian, is an attempt to recover ancient tradition, which seems to revolve around supernatural and divine elements, with hopes to establish a common social reality. It is an expression of Finnish language, belief and culture, whose production was prompted by the looming Finnish nationalism. Therefore, the evolving mode of thought represented in the mythic world of Kalevalaic poems, is expected and favoured by the society, enabling the epic to encourage a social reformation.

Despite the recent scholarship that has been performed on Margaret Fuller, very little has focused on the varied body of poetry she composed during her brief life. By dividing her poetic works into three categories – those written to an early “lover,” those focusing on the theme of androgyny, and those written during her “mature period” of 1844 – one is better able to follow Fuller on the emotional and intellectual journey that served as the foundation for all of her writings. In addition, the study of Fuller’s poetry provides a clearer understanding of how this erudite woman transcended gender boundaries in her writings, as well as in the choices she made in her daily life, further emphasizing her reputation as a revolutionary woman of nineteenth century.

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This study examines Basil Bunting's development as a poet from his meeting with Ezra Pound in Paris in 1923, through his collaborations with Pound, Louis Zukofsky, and other members of the Objectivist circle in the 1930s, up to his meeting with Allen Ginsberg and Tom Pickard in 1960s Britain against a backdrop of social activism and modernist revival. In particular, it seeks to query the critical commonplace that Bunting was a sceptic interested solely in the autotelic form of poetry, and to argue that his revival at the time of the long poem Briggflatts in the sixties should be read historically - as a case study that shows the Poundian tradition of praxis and orality acquiring a newly communitarian, leftist emphasis in the context of post-war Anglo-American poetry. The study draws extensively on unpublished manuscripts and letters held at the Basil Bunting Archive, Durham University, the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas (Austin), and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Este trabalho tem como objeto a investigação da poética de Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen através da série No Poema, sétima parte do livro Geografia (1967). A poeta joga com a crosta terrestre e a crosta da linguagem. Notamos elementos comuns entre sua poética e a de seus pares, por exemplo: a poeta denuncia a morte dos deuses e a crise da linguagem, há o desaparecimento elocutório do sujeito, o silêncio está presente como elemento da criação, a poeta persegue o \"ostinato rigore\" que Paul Valéry retomou. A poesia de Sophia tem pontos coincidentes com a de Hölderlin, enquanto poeta que vê a linguagem como casa do ser, com a de João Cabral, o \"ostinato rigore\", o silêncio como elemento da criação poética e o desaparecimento do sujeito depois da criação, com a de Francis Ponge, o gosto pelo concreto, por nomear precisamente os objetos, com a de Paul Celan, a síntese, com a de Fernando Pessoa, o paradigma da tradição literária portuguesa moderna. Essa constatação se deu a partir da nossa leitura dos poemas selecionados para a análise. / This assignment aims the investigation over Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen poetics throughout the series \"No Poema\", in the 7th part of the book entitled Geografia (1967). The poet plays up with the earthy and language crust. We observe common elements between her poetics and of her pairs. For instance: the poet reveals the Gods death as well as the language crisis. The subject has a discursive fading, being the silence present as the creative element. The poet chases the \"ostinato rigore\" that Paul Valéry had recaptured. Sophia\'s poetry has correspondent points with Hölderlin´s work while considering both poets: the language as the dwelling of a being. Similar to João Cabral is the \"ostinato rigore\", where silence is perceived as the poetic creative element and the fading of the subject occurs after its creation. Together with Francis Ponge, to entitle precisely the objects, lays the fondness of the concrete. The synthesis is with Paul Celan\'s, and finally the Portuguese literary tradition with Fernando Pessoa. This evidence has emerged from the perusal of the poems selected to this investigation.

Esta dissertação tenciona fazer uma leitura da obra Il Canzoniere, de Umberto Saba, com base na linha tensiva descendente que se inicia na coletânea Trieste e una donna (1910-1912), e cujo ponto de menor temperatura é Cose leggere e vaganti (1920). Procuramos focar nossa leitura nas tensões e ambivalências que perpassam a produção poética do triestino nesse período. Desse modo, o trabalho está estruturado em três capítulos: no primeiro, centramos atenção em Trieste e una donna e tentamos compreender como se estabelece a relação de confluencia entre o eu-lírico e o sensível, como busca de apreensão da elementaridade das coisas e conseqüente aceitação da vida em toda sua variedade; no segundo, tratamos de La serena disperazione(1913-1915) e Poesie scritte durante la guerra (1917), mantendo o foco na dinâmica entre permanência e ruptura, e tendo como base os motivos da tentativa de recuperação de recursos usados em coletâneas anteriores; no terceiro, abordamos Cose leggere e vaganti, com vistas a tentar entender a aparente leveza que perpassa a coletânea, e mostrar como, em última instância, subjaz nela a oposição entre peso e leveza. Com o presente trabalho, procuramos evidenciar, assim, que a linha descendente de tensão estaria, em última instância, associada à tentativa de fuga da dor e do sofrimento. / This dissertation intends to read the work Il Canzoniere, by Umberto Saba, based on the tensed descendent line which begins with the collection Trieste e una donna, and which point of lower temperature is Cose leggere e vaganti. We sought to focus our reading in the tensions and the ambivalence that go across the poetic production of the Triestian in such period. So, this work is structured in three chapters: on the first one, we centered the attention in Trieste e una donna and tried to understand how the confluent relation between the lyric-self and the sensory is established, as we seek to seize the elementary things and its consequent acceptance of life in all its variety; on the second one, we approached La serena disperazione and Poesie scritte durante la guerra, keeping the focus on the dynamics between permanence and rupture, being based on the motives to attempt the recall of the resources used in previous collections; on the third one, we approached Cose leggere e vaganti, in order to attempt to understand the apparent lightness which goes along the collection, and to show how, in a last stage, it is underlain the opposition between weight and lightness. Within this work, we seek to emphasize that the descendent tension line would be, in a last level, associated to the scape of pain and suffering.

Esta tese tem a preocupação de examinar as diferenças e similaridades entre as Novelas amorosas y ejemplares (1637) e sua segunda parte, Desengaños amorosos (1647). Também busca elucidar a conexão entre os inflamados discursos que denunciam os constructos culturais que sustentam a superioridade do homem e a inferioridade da mulher e o trágico fim das personagens femininas de Desengaños amorosos. Ainda, analisar como se organiza e apresenta a defesa da mulher, traço marcante das coletâneas, que foi discutida pela crítica do século XX a partir das diretrizes do feminismo. Apoiando-se nos tratados de arte poética vigentes no século XVII, nos tratados de conduta, nas doutrinas filosóficas, políticas e religiosas que norteavam as práticas sociais e as artes do período, esta pesquisa mostra os aspectos que distinguem e, concomitantemente, unem as duas coletâneas. Com este suporte, distingue a função dos discursos de moldura e dos contos, assinalando sua coerência. Além disso, demonstra que a defesa da mulher se expressa por meio do elogio à virtude e o vitupério dos vícios, de acordo com os padrões éticos e religiosos da Contra Reforma, mas também em consonância com as reivindicações das mulheres da Espanha seiscentista. Mediante a análise da moldura e de dois contos de cada coletânea, a tese faz notar a complexa organização estrutural da obra ao indicar como o significado de cada conto se enriquece quando perfilado aos demais de sua coletânea e, sucessivamente, quando se somam Novelas e Desengaños. Tal disposição revela que a obra de Zayas segue um projeto de unidade. Seu cuidadoso planejamento e diligente execução tornam patente que a escritora compete com a invenção de seus contemporâneos, com vistas a granjear a autorização da escrita feminina e o consecutivo ingresso da mulher no círculo dos autores profissionais. Confirmando as freqüentes denúncias de Zayas sobre a depreciação da mulher nas belas letras da primeira metade do século XVII, a tese propõe que a contista faz de sua obra uma réplica ao difundido modelo das pícaras, celestinas e cortesãs. Conseqüentemente, ao representar mulheres que são exemplo de virtude e homens que são motivo de desengano, por causa de seus vícios, a engenhosa autora inverte os paradigmas e incita o leitor a rejeitar a generalizada difamação da mulher, apresentando-lhe persuasivas razões para respeitá-la e dignificá-la. / This paper focuses on the examination of the differences and similarities existing in Novelas amorosas y ejemplares (1637) and its second part, Desengaños amorosos (1647). It also tries to illuminate the connection between the heated arguments that denounce the cultural conventions supporting mans superiority, womans inferiority, and the tragic end of the female characters in Desengaños amorosos. Moreover, it analyzes how the defense of the woman is organized and presented, such defense is a remarkable trait of the collections of writings that had been discussed by the 20th. Century critics, bearing in mind the feminist conductress. Supported on the treatises about ars poetica present in the 17th. Century, on the treatises about behavior, on the philosophical, political and religious doctrines that guided the social practices and the arts of such period, this research shows the aspects that distinguish and, at the same time, join both collections. With this support, it highlights the function of the frame speeches and tales, emphasizing its coherence. Besides, it shows that the defense of the woman is expressed by means of praise to virtue and invective against vices, according to the ethical and religious patterns of the Counter-Reformation, but also relating to the 17th. Century Spanish womens demands. By means of the analysis of the frame and of two short novels of each collection, this paper brings to mind the complex structural organization of the work, while showing how the meaning of each short tale is enriched when it is placed alongside the other stories of its collection and successively, when Novelas and Desengaños are added to. Such organization reveals that the works by Zayas follow a project of unit. Her careful planning and attentive execution makes it clear that the writer competes against the invention of her contemporaries, aiming to receive the authorization of the womens writing and the consequent admission of the woman in the circle of professional authors. Confirming Zayas frequent accusation against womens detraction in the belles-lettres of the 17th. Century first half, the thesis proposes that the short-story writer makes up her own work as a response to the widespread model of female picaroons, celestinas (panderesses) and courtesans. As a consequence, when representing women who are examples of virtue and men who are a reason for disillusion because of their faults, the ingenious writer inverts the paradigms and encourages the reader to reject the generalized slander against women, presenting persuasive reasons for respecting and dignifying them.

Esta dissertação tenciona fazer uma leitura da obra Il Canzoniere, de Umberto Saba, com base na linha tensiva descendente que se inicia na coletânea Trieste e una donna (1910-1912), e cujo ponto de menor temperatura é Cose leggere e vaganti (1920). Procuramos focar nossa leitura nas tensões e ambivalências que perpassam a produção poética do triestino nesse período. Desse modo, o trabalho está estruturado em três capítulos: no primeiro, centramos atenção em Trieste e una donna e tentamos compreender como se estabelece a relação de confluencia entre o eu-lírico e o sensível, como busca de apreensão da elementaridade das coisas e conseqüente aceitação da vida em toda sua variedade; no segundo, tratamos de La serena disperazione(1913-1915) e Poesie scritte durante la guerra (1917), mantendo o foco na dinâmica entre permanência e ruptura, e tendo como base os motivos da tentativa de recuperação de recursos usados em coletâneas anteriores; no terceiro, abordamos Cose leggere e vaganti, com vistas a tentar entender a aparente leveza que perpassa a coletânea, e mostrar como, em última instância, subjaz nela a oposição entre peso e leveza. Com o presente trabalho, procuramos evidenciar, assim, que a linha descendente de tensão estaria, em última instância, associada à tentativa de fuga da dor e do sofrimento. / This dissertation intends to read the work Il Canzoniere, by Umberto Saba, based on the tensed descendent line which begins with the collection Trieste e una donna, and which point of lower temperature is Cose leggere e vaganti. We sought to focus our reading in the tensions and the ambivalence that go across the poetic production of the Triestian in such period. So, this work is structured in three chapters: on the first one, we centered the attention in Trieste e una donna and tried to understand how the confluent relation between the lyric-self and the sensory is established, as we seek to seize the elementary things and its consequent acceptance of life in all its variety; on the second one, we approached La serena disperazione and Poesie scritte durante la guerra, keeping the focus on the dynamics between permanence and rupture, being based on the motives to attempt the recall of the resources used in previous collections; on the third one, we approached Cose leggere e vaganti, in order to attempt to understand the apparent lightness which goes along the collection, and to show how, in a last stage, it is underlain the opposition between weight and lightness. Within this work, we seek to emphasize that the descendent tension line would be, in a last level, associated to the scape of pain and suffering.