Based on a comparative method of enquiry, this thesis analyses the process of self-definition expressed in the work of Gloria Fuertes (Madrid, 1917-1998) and Pilar Paz Pasamar (Jerez de la Frontera, 1933) as individual alternatives to the collective ethos and literary practices promoted within the patriarchal society of Franco’s Spain. Recognizing the poets’ cultural and socio-political context as determining factors in their experiences as women and poets, and therefore in their outlook and poetics, this context and how it is reflected in their poetry provides the starting point (Chapter 1). Both poets acknowledge that writing poetry can provide them with a metaphorical space of freedom that enables them to develop their identity and explore their preoccupations. Therefore, their thoughts about poetry provide an important theme that occurs in the poetry of both (Chapter 2). Closely related to this is the link they establish between poetic inspiration and the divine, which in the case of Pilar Paz Pasamar leads to the attempt to use the special qualities of poetic language to refer to a universal truth that she is aware of and which transcends the capabilities of language, while Gloria Fuertes regards poetry as a divine gift that can provide solace and is ultimately able to improve the world (Chapter 3). The fourth chapter focuses on specific elements of the two poets’ work that reveal the distinctive mechanisms of self-construction they develop. The section on Fuertes considers humour as a survival strategy that enables the poet to reach out to her readership and emphasize her focus on the here and now, while the discussion on Paz’s work looks at how the use of sea imagery allows her to convey abstract experiences based on introspection. Thus, it is argued that their poetry reflects the different strategies the two women develop – based on integration in the case of Fuertes and a more separate position in the case of Paz – to define themselves in relation to their world.

Historically, women have not been "speaking subjects" but "spoken objects" in Western culture--the ground on which male-dominated constructions have been erected. In literature, women have been conventionally held as the silent and silenced other. Lyric poetry especially has idealized not only the entrenched figures of masculine subject/feminine object, but poetry itself as the site of prophecy, vision, Truth. Most dramatically in lyric poetry then, the issue of women as subjects has been collapsed into Woman as object, that figure who has been the sacrifice necessary for the production of lyric "song" and the consolidation of the unified masculine voice. It has thus been difficult for women poets to take up the position of speaking subject, most particularly because of women's problematic relationship to Woman. Recent feminist theorists have explored female subjectivity, how women put into hegemonic discourse "a possible operation of the feminine." This dissertation analyzes that possibility in poetry as exemplified in the works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and H.D. I contend that these paradigmatic American poets constitute speaking subjects in their poetry that both figure Woman conventionally and reconfigure it, i.e. subvert the stability of those representations, thereby disturbing our view. I argue that this double identification produces, in effect, a divided or split subjectivity that is enabling for the female speaker. As an alternative to the traditionally specularized figure of Woman then, such a position opens up distinctly counter-hegemonic spaces in which to constitute the female subject, rendering problematic readerly consumption of the image of Woman as a totality. I explore the attempts to represent women's difference differently--the tenuous accession to, rejection of, or play with the lyric "I" in these poets' works. Dickinson, Moore, and H.D. reconfigure Woman and inscribe female speakers as grammatically and rhetorically, but not necessarily visually, present, thereby frustrating patriarchal economies of mastery and possession.

This thesis aims to rescue the name of Elisabeth Mulder, a Spanish female poet who started to publish her first poetry books around the rise of the Generation of 1927 in Spain. The importance of this work hinges on the recognition of Mulder as a female poet whose work has been marginalized from the literary canon, like that of many other women of her era. This thesis focuses on Mulde''s third poetry collection, Sinfonâia en rojo, which was published in 1929 and stands out for its symbolic richness and its romantic and modernist features. Part of this research deals with the symbolism of the color red and the meanings that red acquires within the context of the poems. The main leitmotivs of Sinfonâia en rojo are the images of fire and blood, which are used to make reference to both the emotional and the physical world of the poetic voice. The research also focuses on the connections between Mulder's work and that of her contemporaries, and it suggests that she was in contact with the literary world of her era. / by Itxaso del Olmo Lâopez. / Abstract in English. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This dissertation engages in a critical analysis of the poetry of Emily Dickinson which, to me, suggests that the poet suffered from a type of manic-depression known specifically in psychiatric parlance as bipolar disorder. I argue that although Dickinson experienced much pain and suffering she learnt, through time, to address, understand and contain adversity - that ultimately, she transformed these experiences into the raw materials for poetic creation. Dickinson's poetic achievements are often obscured by a misunderstanding of her mental and emotional constitution. This thesis provides an alternative to the views of those commentators who maintain that Emily Dickinson was insane, neurotic or delusional. I intend, ultimately, to offer the reader a fresh insight into Emily Dickinson's poetry by reading it from the assumption that she suffered from bipolar disorder. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This thesis utilizes the theory of feminism in all its implied branches in an attempt to critically review the subtle and sometimes deliberate subjugation of women in general and South Africa in particular. This occurs, in spite of the fact that there are laws in place that are meant to discourage women abuse. Juxtaposing this is the perspective conception of women, looking at themselves as subjects of virtue who deserve equal treatment to any other human being. It is through some oral forms that this reflection could be tested. Praise poetry, in the hands of a creative artist opens up a world of human emotions that could not be easily seen or felt, and yet it can simultaneously be used to manipulate situations. Language therefore could be seen as a powerful double-edged instrument. The patriarchal system, in this thesis, is exposed as that holy ideology turned unholy to achieve condescending agendas against women. The thin light of respect demonstrated by the traditionalist thinking is made to disappear into thin air, especially when contaminated by Western ideas. It is the resoluteness and the fair obstinacy of some both traditional and modern women that determinedly stood up to conscientise the world in terms of respect for human life irrespective. In this research, an exploration of literary elements within four Nguni languages, that is Siswati, isiZulu, isiNdebele, and isiXhosa reveals the singularity of purpose, for these elements to be manipulated to achieve domineering intentions. Be that as it may, tibongo (praise poems/ praises) of outstanding women who have served in traditional leadership in these language groups give reason to challenge any idea that women should by virtue be relegated to the back seat. Through these tibongo it becomes apparent that because of the women leaders’ stubborn fairness and unparalleled foresight, they have become personifications of democratic values and as such, role models and symbolic hope not only for the empowerment of women, but also for their total liberation from all negative perceptions and oppressions. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)