It is the purpose of this thesis to examine Edmund Spenser's attitudes toward the concept of 'love' and to observe this concept especially as it appears in the third and fourth books of ‘The Faerie Queene’. Before turning to these two books, however, it is important to survey the entire poem in the light of this concept and to recognize that Spenser's ‘Faerie Queene’ is a romantic epic, whose sustaining theme is the search of a noble and virtuous knight for the love of a beautiful lady, the search of Prince Arthur for the Gloriana of his dream-vision.

In this thesis we will study the emergence in the work of Edmund Spenser of an idea originally Greek but primarily mediaeval. This is an examination of Spenser's view, not of nature, but of creation, for Spenser's feeling that this world is the work of a divine Creator contributes greatly to his view of nature and consequently to his poetry.

This paper is offered as a guide to Ezra Pound the poet, critic, translator and writer of letters in the years before he began his major work, The Cantos. Few writers in modern times have published as extensively as he. His writings have appeared in innumerable periodicals and journals, and he has published many books. Most of the books published during the era covered by the present paper are long out of print, and the periodical literature can be found only in library collections. [...]

We may, of course, understand a great deal of Chaucer at first sight; but we shall never comprehend the full Chaucer but by studying those minutiae which are matters of history to us, but which were present everyday commonplaces to the people for whom he wrote. Few minutiae become "matters of history" more quickly than fashions and caprices in dress. We laugh at the styles of twenty-five years ago, consider our grandmother's clothing quaint and the garments of two generations ago romantically beautiful. Fashions which have special significance in their day are quickly changed and forgotten. [...]

When Thomas Hardy undertook to write tragedy he invoked an old tradition. A review of the traditional theory and practice of this genre clarifies Hardy's tragic philosophy and techniques. This definition in the Poetics is the usual starting place. For Aristotle tragedy is a serious, complete work of art, which uses poetic and prose techniques to enhance the audience's enjoyment. It should be in the form of a drama rather than a narrative, and should stimulate the emotions of pity and fear in the onlooker.

Note: Missing Page 155. / Libertines of the seventeenth century vigorously disputed the conventional beliefs and systems of knowledge generally accepted in their time. Offspring of a time of transition in politics, religion and scientific knowledge, their individualism was formed and influenced by many factors in this age of shifting values. They were affected by the decline of Papal authority and the growth of national self consciousness; by Protestant interpretations of the Scriptures, and the increasing complexity and disparateness of religious dogma.

This thesis examines how the authors, Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Chestre, manipulate the construct of late fourteenth-century normative masculinity by parodying the aristocratic ideology that hegemonically prescribed the proper performance of masculine normativity. Both authors structure their respective tales, The Tale of Sir Thopas and Sir Launfal, in the style of contemporary popular romances; the plot of the tales focusing on the male protagonists quest for sexual and social identity. Instead of perpetuating the masculine identity of the hegemony, their romances parody the genre by queering the characteristics of the protagonists and the expectations of their audience.

Throughput rates at South African universities are low and contribute, among others, to financial losses for a number of stakeholders: students, their parents/guardians, donors of scholarships, universities and the state. This compels institutions to investigate those factors influencing study success. Various international and local investigations indicate that academic language ability is one of several factors that has a significant influence on academic success. In order to make informed decisions about low stakes issues such as language support, universities need mechanisms to enable them to do so. One such mechanism is the use of measuring instruments, such as the Toets van Akademiese Geletterdheidsvlakke (TAG), to make a diagnosis of studentsâ academic language ability, and to then place them on appropriate language support programmes. Tests, however, have the obvious power to touch the lives of people in some way. It is therefore necessary that an accountable and transparent approach is followed when designing and implementing tests such as TAG, and when interpreting test results. This is usually done by investigating the reliability and validity of a test; the latter by means of a process of validation. This study is an example of such an investigation where TAG is subjected to thorough and systematic scrutiny. A framework that considers applied linguistics as a discipline of design was followed, against which the construct (underlying theoretical framework), test specifications (the blueprint) and task types, as well as the reliability and validity of TAG were investigated. The framework suggests that a test is a technical design that can be used as solution to a (language) problem. This technical design is grounded upon certain constitutive conditions underlying it, and disclosed by regulative conditions. The former include aspects such as reliability and validity, and the latter utility, transparency, accountability and care. Although the focus of this study was on the constitutive conditions for designing and developing TAG, it repeatedly refers to the importance of the interplay between constitutive and regulative conditions, as well as the fact that a test such as TAG cannot be investigated from one perspective only. The argument of this study is thus that a technically accountable approach to the development and implementation of, and investigations into tests such as TAG is necessary in order to use them in a justifiable and responsible manner. The conclusion of this study is that TAG is a test of high quality and that it can without a doubt be used by universities for purposes of placement, because it was designed and implemented with care and its results are constantly being scrutinised.

The academic performance of students entering higher education in South Africa has been high on the agenda of universities, organisations working in this sector, the Department of Education, and the media. The reason for this is that many students do not meet the admission requirements for higher education institutions. The low level of academic language proficiency of first-year students in particular is evidenced by entry-level proficiency testing. In response to this problem, new English literacy materials were generated at the University of the Free State to target such students and provide a potential access route to higher education institutions. The investigation of the efficacy of the Skills for a Changing World English literacy course employed a two-part study. The first, a pilot study, encompassed a non-equivalent quasi-experimental research approach which focussed on the performance of a non-equivalent control and experimental group in two different English literacy programmes. The results showed that the new English literacy course neither significantly improved the reading scores nor the academic performance of the students. Further qualitative research was required to investigate issues such as student motivation, studentsâ perceptions of learning, and facilitatorsâ perceptions of teaching. These are addressed in the current Masterâs study, which adopts a mixed-method approach, where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected simultaneously in the form of pre- and post-test scores, facilitator journal entries, student focus groups, transcriptions of facilitator meetings, and a student questionnaire. The research methodology encompassed an ethnographic study, which involved working with students and facilitators who had been exposed to the Skills for a Changing World English literacy materials for one academic year. The goal of the Masterâs study is to determine whether the course changed studentsâ performance on the National Benchmark Tests (NBT); what studentsâ perceptions were of their learning on the course; how facilitators experienced teaching the course materials; and whether students enjoyed the course content. The results unfortunately showed a drop in student performance on the NBT post-test, which could possibly be explained by lack of motivation to perform in a test that does not count for marks. Furthermore, the qualitative data seemed to indicate that some students failed to see the value of the course, and that some of the materials were irrelevant and uninteresting. It is postulated that this could have impacted on student motivation, and thus their performance on the course. The lack of facilitator training in English Second Language (ESL) composition also became apparent in the assessment of studentsâ work. Content-based instruction (CBI) is discussed as a potential solution to these issues, with a particular focus on formative assessment as an integral part thereof.

A number of studies have indicated that the literacy levels of students at tertiary institutions in South Africa are lower than required for academic success. Nonetheless, the possibility exists that some of these students may in fact manage to graduate with low academic literacy levels, and even be admitted to postgraduate study although they lack the ability to negotiate the advanced academic discourse required to succeed at that level. This study confirms the need for the development of a test of academic literacy for postgraduate students and shows how this can be accomplished by applying recognized design principles within the framework of applied linguistics. The constitutive and regulative conditions for the validation of language tests are dealt with as the necessary foundation for the design of a test of academic literacy for postgraduate students. Whereas language tests have conventionally been required to show validity and reliability, in terms of more contemporary thinking such tests must also possess what is referred to as consequential validity, a notion that refers to the impact of tests. Literacy tests should thus not only be consistent and theoretically justifiable, but should incorporate a multiplicity of evidence to back up their validation. The various phases involved in the design of a test are covered, including piloting and refinement. A theoretical articulation of academic literacy is provided, since this constitutes a crucial aspect of construct validity, with particular attention being given to the delineation of functional academic literacy. The identified ability is reflected in the blueprint for the test construct and is further specified in the task types selected for inclusion in the test. The definite move away from previous generations of âscientificâ and positivist thinking can be discerned in the kind of test tasks required of test takers and the way in which these emphasize the instrumental communicative function and mediating role of language as a social instrument within the material lingual sphere of academic discourse. Task types are evaluated in terms of their ability to be productive, based on a quantitative system of measurement and the application of appropriate statistical procedures such as point-biserial correlations. The research concludes with a reception study which assesses the extent to which the current version of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS) is well received and whether it meets the regulative conditions of fairness, transparency, utility and accountability. In addition to confirming that the test has an acceptably high face validity, the survey section reveals that many postgraduate students have a restricted view of language and an erroneous perception of academic literacy. Much more needs to be done at undergraduate level to raise awareness about the important role played by language proficiency in all fields of study and how high academic literacy levels can contribute towards academic achievement and student success. The design of effective literacy interventions remains another area of concern. Research is also needed on the desirability and feasibility of designing subject-specific tests and ensuring equivalence where different test versions are in operation.